Shona Burns: 2008 Publishing Executive Hall of Fame Inductee
Michael Healy, executive director of the nonprofit industry association Book Industry Study Group, also praises Burns’ leading role in promoting green initiatives.
“Shona has been one of the pioneering figures in our industry on issues related to environmental responsibility and sustainability,” he says. “Her commitment to more environmentally sensitive book production has certainly helped make Chronicle a leader in this area, but she has taken it further by being a prominent spokes-
person in the industry at large for a different and more responsible way of working. Her induction into the Hall of Fame is a very welcome acknowledgment of her contribution in these areas.”
Burns has worked closely with a U.K.-based group, Prelims (Publishers Resolutions for Ethical International Manufacturing Standards), which works to establish ethical production standards and elimination of child labor throughout the international book trade. “We work together to have suppliers work [toward] an industry standard for corporate social responsibility,” she says. Signatories to a resolution affirming social accountability standards include Chronicle, Scholastic, Random House and Penguin UK, among others. Burns says one of her goals is to raise awareness of this organization among U.S. publishers.
Of Superman and The Beatles
Besides her work on environmental and social initiatives, Burns says she is most proud of the distinctive publishing projects she has been able to oversee at Chronicle. “Experimenting with new formats, ideas, techniques—I think about the fun that we have in making some of this product happen, because it’s not your standard 6-[inch] by 9-[inch] hardcover book,” she notes. “I’ve stuck rubber tires on different covers. I’ve built statues of Superman. … Every day we’re in here having fun and trying to figure out what other inventive thing we can come up with. I’m really proud of being able to come up with new specifications that inspire the marketplace.”
