The Scottish General Publishers Association grew from necessity, energy and conviction, ambition, and the wish to fan what then looked like the dying embers of a once-important industry in Scotland. It was formed back in 1973 by 10 publishers who had the idea of collaborating on gathering information, attending book fairs and joint marketing. The first Chairman was Robin Lorimer and the Scottish Arts Council gave financial support. As the membership grew, so did the services offered. The SPA became a familiar sight at international book fairs and marketed their books to the trade collaboratively, thereby raising the profile of Scottish publishing.
In 1986, the SPA brought together librarians, booksellers and publishers and formed the Scottish Book Marketing Group to further promote Scottish-published books through the book trade.
In April 2007, the 34-year-old Scottish Publishers Association (SPA) changed and became Publishing Scotland, an organisation encompassing not just Scottish publishers but organisations, companies and individuals who work within the Scottish publishing industry.
Nowadays, Publishing Scotland attends eight book fairs each year, taking Scottish publishing across the world, produces the annual Publishing Scotland Yearbook, and runs a full publishing training programme and network seminars.
The original ideas behind the Scottish General Publishers Association are still at the heart of Publishing Scotland but added to this are 21st century issues such as digitisation and print on demand.
More information on the history of Publishing Scotland can be found in Thirtieth Anniversary of the Scottish Publishers Association: A Celebration which can be bought from BooksfromScotland.com.