The literature world concentrates on writing and publishing. This is true of both the commercial sector and the arts funding sector. Arts funders traditionally gave grants to support the creative activities of writing, publishing and, later, when the concept of cultural industries was introduced, distribution as well. Opening the Book's unique contribution has been to introduce the concept of intervening at the point of consumption.
Intervening to support the reader is not at the expense of the writer or the publisher. Reader development is audience development for literature. A confident reading audience, willing to take risks and try new things, benefits the whole production chain of the literature industry, especially those parts of it which are more vulnerable and less commercially viable - new writing, translations, independent presses, voices from outside the mainstream.
We have found working with a range of organisations that it can be hard to maintain the focus on the reader. Familiar ways of thinking are easier to fall back on and it takes time to develop confidence that a reader-centred approach will work - though it always does. We coined the phrase Putting Readers First both to explain what we do and to act as a reminder to everyone engaged in the new activity of reader development. When planning a project or talking and writing about books pause and ask yourself - is this reader-centred? Does it put readers first?