Kingston company Blue Banyan Books Ltd is owned and operated by publisher and Editor-in-Chief Tanya Batson-Savage, a self-confessed bibliophile who has turned her love of books into a growing business venture.

The company is targeting an increase in market share for children’s books as well as audio and ebooks for teens and adults.

The five-year-old company publishes “entertaining, riveting stories for children, tweens, teens and adults built on Caribbean culture”, asserts Batson-Savage. Blue Banyan also publishes under the imprint Blouse & Skirt Books.

Writers hail from Jamaica, Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Blue Banyan is the successor company to Blue Moon Publishing, also started by Batson-Savage, and is a member of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation Accelerator Programme.

Batson-Savage shared, “I have to confess that I’m an unapologetic bibliophile, even though I don’t get to read as much as I want to these days. Books make a wonderful passport to the world. They are a great way for us to get to know and understand other people, to be accepting of difference, and importantly, to understand ourselves.

“Stories help to tell us who we are. They can often inform us of the history that gets cut from history books, and they show we are valid and important.”

Blue Banyan currently publishes for children up to 12 years. Under Blouse & Skirt brand, books are published for teens and adults.

Children’s books make up 60 per cent of sales. The CEO explains, “There is a greater demand for children’s books and we also produce a lot of genres and types that are missing from the market. Additionally, there are currently more outlets for children’s books – which are more readily carried by pharmacies and gift shops.”

The journey so far has not been smooth.

“The most challenging thing about running a publishing house in Jamaica is that so many people believe that self-fulfilling lie that Jamaicans don’t read, that young people aren’t interested in books. But the data shows that if young people have access to interesting, engaging books, and books that reflect them and their lives – and this includes fantasy books – they will read them. They do read them.”

Expansion

The publishing company, which now employs two full-time and two part-time workers, is seeking to expand its product line to address gaps in the market.

Blue Banyan is also eyeing the introduction of graphic novels for children 8-12 years old. Batson-Savage adds that there will also be a push to increase the offering of digital products.

The publisher believes that the future is most promising, although she admits, “We are a tiny independent with big five publishers controlling more than 60 per cent of the market.”

She notes, “The global publishing market is currently worth approximately US$142 billion. There are no estimates as to the value of the local or regional industry, and it’s not really possible for us to say what percentage of that we control.”

Currently, Blue Banyan Books by revenue and number of employees remain in the micro sector. “Our aim is to grow to a medium-sized business within the next five years,” its owner says.

She says with optimism, “Profitability is always in flux, but as a company we have definitely had an increase in revenue. After a massive setback in 2020, in 2022 we are on track to have experienced a 100 per cent increase in revenue to bring us back to pre-2020 levels.”

Blue Banyan has embarked on a two-pronged strategic growth trajectory which is the introduction of graphic novels for children and expansion of digital products to include audio books and ebooks for older readers.

The majority of Blue Banyan’s funding has come from re-investment of revenues generated by the company as well as personal funds.

In 2021 the company was a recipient of a TAP grant from the Caribbean Development Bank and the EU which facilitated the development of five new audiobooks.

Additionally, in 2022 Blue Banyan received support from the Export Max III Programme to improve its e-commerce capabilities – by redeveloping its website.

Later this year it also received support from the JBDC through their business accelerator to create ebooks.

Batson-Savage shared, “Through early 2023, we will continue our roll-out of audio books and ebooks for teens and adults. We are on track to introduce our first five audio books by end of February 2023 and by end January 2023, we will introduce 10 ebook versions of our existing titles.”