As well as being a Unesco-designated City of Literature, it was a positive and accessible community with lots of talent - ''and they believe in reading'', publisher Gareth St John Thomas said.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Mr St John Thomas used to work in publishing for big corporates.
Moving to New Zealand 25 years ago, he set up Exisle as a hobby. After the business started to grow, he decided to concentrate on it more seriously.
The firm now employs 12 staff, based in Auckland, Australia and Dunedin, with PR people employed in New York and London one week a month.
After having the head office in Australia for a time, it was decided to return to New Zealand. But Mr St John Thomas did not want to be in Auckland, because ''the best of New Zealand is in the South Island''.
Dunedin had a lot going for it. He had got to know the city when his son was studying at the University of Otago.
There was a great pool of talent with the university and he believed the University Book Shop was one of the best book stores in the southern hemisphere.
It was an easy place to do business and it was nice to be able to ''deal with the rest of the world'' from Dunedin.
The downside was dealing with time zones - ''but wherever you are in the world is wrong'', he said.
Exisle published a wide range of books, with about 220 titles in print. It did a new children's book a month and about 15 or 16 new adult books a year, along with reprints.
It published a backlist, like the biography of legendary bushman and prospector Arawata Bill that was still in print after 24 years.
Another aspect of the business was looking after smaller publishers and giving them access to the market.
The publishing industry was an ''ever-intriguing'' business to be involved with and books were a ''good space to be in'', Mr St John Thomas said.
The number of independent book stores in the United States and the UK was growing.
He said book sales were higher than ever and people talked about books more than they used to.
The number of children's books being published was also increasing while e-book sales were in significant decline, he said.
With its main base in Dunedin, Exisle would continue to grow its business. Mr St John Thomas was looking at taking on several interns from the university.
