Time to move on for South Island sales rep Jeremy Bliss

Colleagues and friends gathered in Christchurch last week for the retirement party of Jeremy Bliss, one of the true sales personalities of the industry, who has been Oratia's South Island sales representative for the past four years. 

Guests at the event on Friday 4 December calculated that the group represented some 925 years of service to bookselling and publishing. 

Jeremy Bliss (centre) with long-term colleagues and fellow Oratia Books reps Dennis Morgan (left) and Gary Shannon (right)

Jeremy himself started his book career in the Oxford University Press warehouse 43 years ago, before taking to the road as a sales rep for them. 

Stints with Beckett Books and Hodder Moa Stoughton (as sales manager) followed and in recent years he’s handled South Island sales for Oratia, Blue Duck, Halcyon, Neil Hyndman, Thames and Hudson and others. 

Jeremy (centre, with cap) surrounded by colleagues, family and friends

There was many a memory and escapade shared at the lively event, for which guests had travelled from as far afield as Nelson, Motueka and Auckland (notably our sales & marketing consultant Belinda Cooke).

Our sincere thanks to Jeremy for his able representation of the Oratia Books list in the South Island, and best wishes for retirement. 

 

Farewell to the much-loved Paul Greenberg

It was with great sadness that we learned this week of the passing of Paul Greenberg after a long illness.

That sadness has been shared throughout the book trade, of which Paul was a respected and beloved member.

Paul had joined the book trade in the late 1960s as a sales representative for A.H. & A.W. Reed, and over the subsequent 50 years worked with and for many of the great publishers and booksellers.

The inimitable Mr Greenberg – known for his charm, professionalism, sartorial elegance and gentlemanly ways – was the consummate sales rep.

With his partner Joan Roulston, Paul had operated Greene Phoenix Marketing over the past two decades, travelling the length and breadth of the country to market local and international books.

They enthusiastically represented Oratia Books in most of the North Island from 2009 until 2017, when health reasons obliged Paul reluctantly to “hang up his slate”.

See this summary of his contribution from Booksellers NZ this week.

Paul, thank you for all you did for us. Things won't be the same without you.