How Does It Feel Part 3 - Being an Independent Publisher

We often hear that the publishing industry is in crisis. Bookshops are disappearing from the high street, book programmes have already disappeared from TV, and the big publishers are focussing their energy on perceived safe options. Even Penguin Classics are no longer sacred! On the other hand, independent imprints seem to be enjoying something of a resurgence. Speaking to us earlier this year, the author and editor Nicholas Royle pointed out that while the publishing world in general was contracting, ‘indie presses have been enjoying some success, with prize shortlistings and decent sales figures’. I spoke to four independent publishers, to find out how they got involved in the industry, how they compete against the major imprints, and their predictions for the future.

Kevin Duffy is the publisher at Bluemoose books, home to authors like Socrates Adams and Ben Myers. Duffy worked for 20 years as a sales rep for publishers including Headline, before starting his own imprint. The story of how he got started summarises the frustrations many authors and publishers alike feel with the state of the industry: ‘I won a national writing competition many moons ago and was whisked down to London to meet the editorial director of Macmillan and an agent from Curtis Brown to chat and have lunch at The Ivy. Anyway, they didn’t like my novel, so that was that. A year later, I read in The Bookseller that all the big money advances were going to young Irish writers, so I changed my name to Colm O’Driscoll, sent off three chapters and a synopsis to Darley Anderson Agency and a few days later, Darley wrote and asked me to phone him, which I did, in a plastic paddy Oirish accent. For a year I had to pretend to be Irish until I went down to London to meet him, where I had to confess my Englishness, but still I signed up with them. For twelve months they tried to sell my book, but always the same answer came back: ‘The editors love your book but the commercial directors don’t think they can shift 20,000 copies’, so that was that. After returning home to Hebden and moping around the house Heth, my wife said, stop grumbling and do something about it, so we re-mortgaged the house, started Bluemoose  and published my book Anthills and Stars and The Bridge Between by Nathan Vanek. We made enough money from these two books that we have published 20 books since.’

Stefan Tobler of And Other Stories didn’t have the same industry background, but was likewise motivated by a desire to see a wider range of books in print: ‘I got a sense that there were some really good books - many of the best books - which were not finding a publisher in the Anglophone world. A lot of those are translations, but also books by UK authors. I decided to write an article in the journal of the Translators Association asking whether anybody else out there felt that something could be started as a labour of love to publish some of these amazing books. Through the article, several people contacted me to offer their support. We 'co-conspirators' held our first meeting in September 2009 to thrash out ideas, brainstorming everything from whether books should be hardback or paperback (they're trade paperback with French flaps) to whether or not translators should and could be paid well (they are). The concept that emerged was a company that would publish challenging, exciting international literature, often (but not always) basing its choices on the opinions of reading groups who would meet to discuss the books they love in various different languages. And Other Stories was born. Our first books appeared in 2011.’

Tobler had previously worked for NGO Survival International doing campaigns work and had done a PhD on Brazilian literature. He says ‘This is quite common among people who set up independent publishing houses - a bit of ignorance is quite handy!’ Jen Hamilton-Emery, a director and editor at Salt Publishing, had previously worked in the NHS: ‘Salt came into my life via my partner, Chris, who set it up with a couple of others (one in the US, one in Australia) as a bit of fun back in the late 1990s. Like many things, it started small, but then grew and I found myself having to help out with the paperwork, then get involved with the authors, and before I knew it I was commissioning books, typesetting, editing and so on. I hadn’t worked in publishing before, but as Salt evolved and grew we made it up as we went along (so to speak), so my lack of experience wasn’t a problem.’

Tom Chalmers, the MD at Legend Press, reinforces the idea that a successful indie publishing house can often be the product of a spur-of-the-moment decision: ‘I worked fleetingly in temp position at Macmillan Journals and then worked at a financial magazine publisher for 18 months. I had decided to go back into books and then on a train home one night I decided to set-up my own company. I thought why not then, as I didn’t have anyone other than me dependent on my salary and there was an internet cafe under our rented flat that I could get started in. That was over eight years ago. I have learnt a lot since and I’m still learning every day.’

Each imprint has its own ethos, a way of setting itself apart from competitors and connecting with an audience. For And Other Stories, their business model plays a role: ‘Obviously every company needs to stay in business and if you’re a big company with shareholders you’ve got a lot of overheads and shareholders wanting their cut to be secure, but that does mean that there are economic rather than literary reasons for book selection. And Other Stories, like a lot of independent publishers aims to keep the focus on literary selection. We are also a social enterprise (ie not-for-private-profit) and hope that sends a message out to all our subscribers and supporters that they are supporting a venture that is out primarily to create cultural good for all readers.’

The idea of connecting directly with readers is vital for all these imprints. Tom Chalmers says that Legend have the flexibility to experiment and innovate in a way that bigger companies might struggle to do: ‘We understand the customer is key and rather than being afraid of them, we look to get out of publishing’s bubble and interact directly with them wherever possible. We come up with new ideas every day and put them immediately into practice – three in twenty may work, that is the nature of trial and error, but we constantly look to be creative and innovative.’ Jen Hamilton-Emery also stresses the importance of building relationships with readers: ‘We have a wonderfully enthusiastic PR person and sales team, and over 100,000 followers on Twitter, so a lot of people know what’s going on and chip in their tuppence worth. Salt has always been very open and many of our readers have been with us from the start and take great interest in us.’

There is a sense that independent publishers can indulge their passions in a way that corporations can’t, acting like curators and finding an audience of like-minds. Kevin Duffy supports this: ‘Bluemoose is a family of readers and writers who love stories that are beautifully written. We publish books that engage and inspire. If we all fall in love with a book we publish it. For us it is all about the story. Stories are transformative and I really believe, without going all Miss World about it, because books can’t feed the hungry, there is nothing like a great book to jump into if you’ve had a really crappy day.’

This doesn’t necessarily mean adopting a specific style though – ‘that way leads to conformity and conformity leads to replication and what Bluemoose is about is finding great new writers who are saying something different.’ Stefan Tobler says ‘some themes end up appearing regularly almost by accident - madness, comedy, art, love and sex seem to pop up a lot. I'm not saying everyone will like every one of them, but none of them are copycat, cynical exercises with their eyes on 'what the market wants'. Although it’s not essential, Salt’s output tends to have a pared-down style, as Hamilton-Emery says: ‘I’m not keen on long literary novels – they tend to have too many unnecessary words in them, but I do enjoy a good meaty crime or fantasy novel that you can get your teeth into.’ Like Salt, Legend publishes in a wide range of genres, and has set up specialist companies to address different markets: ‘Legend Press is now part of the Legend Times Group, with each of the seven companies addressing a demand in the market. This evolution is still ongoing, we are still not close to where we want to be, but we plan to get there quickly.’

Both Salt and Bluemoose acknowledge that they can’t compete with major publishers in terms of advances or marketing budgets, but hope that they offer a different experience for authors. Hamilton-Emery explains ‘I’d hope that authors come to us because we offer something that the big houses can’t. For a start, we are a small team and they’ll quickly get to know us, as will probably end up speaking to our kids too if they phone the office. We take great pride in our books – the production, the cover — and we want the authors to be love them as much as we do, so we involve them a hundred percent in the design, writing blurbs, and so on.’ Duffy agrees, saying ‘we can nurture great writing talent and don’t bin writers because their first novel doesn’t get to number one straightaway. Of course there is a financial imperative in all publishing, but if you find great books it is not beyond the wit and ken of man to find the readers for that book too. We promote the writer and the book, not merely the book.’

In fact, simply being geographically removed from the centre of the publishing industry has its advantages, for Bluemoose: ‘Being based outside of Londinium is brilliant because we don’t get sucked into trends and what’s creating the buzz, because invariable the buzz has been created by an agent desperate to sell their new wunderkind. We are shaped by our northern landscape but we have a national and international feel to where our stories should be read and sold as evidenced by our books being published in translation. Great stories are just that and people from wherever are always delighted to read books that engage and inspire.’

The market for books is changing, with the rise of e-readers and self-published books, as well as the dominance of online retailers. It’s interesting that the publishers I spoke to were optimistic about the future of physical books though. Stefan Tobler explains that ‘for our kind of literary fiction we find print still rules by a long way.’ Jen Hamilton-Emery still feels that the personal touch plays an important role in book-buying: ‘I think there will always be a place for bookshops – they should be the focal point of the high street, offering readings, events, a place of peace and quiet, fun for kids, and new well-curated physical books that readers can pick up and flick through, smell and stroke, none of which on-line retailers, however big their range and lower their prices, can offer. Online retail won’t be going away though, and I guess free shipping and discounts help attract customers. All of it offers something for us and our authors — simple sales via on-line, and a rich experience in shops if authors read or speak at events. There’s nothing like meeting an author and hearing them talk about their writing to bring their work to life. Nothing can replace that.’

It’s hard to have any discussion about book-selling today without mentioning Amazon. To paraphrase Dean Martin’s line about Frank Sinatra, ‘it’s Jeff Bezos' world, we’re all just living in it’. Tom Chalmers has a positive view of the online giant, though:  ‘The wrong impression of Amazon is often given – they operate ruthlessly but they are by far the easiest retailer to work with. They call us into meetings where the only item on the agenda is producing more business. If we did x amount of business over the last three months, they want to discuss how to double it. They are efficient, fast-moving and smart. Other retailers should look at them, as there is a huge amount to learn.’

Prizes clearly have a big impact for independent presses; Kevin Duffy spoke about how rewarding it is to see his authors picking up awards and receiving widespread recognition: ‘King Crow by Michael Stewart won the Guardian’ Not-the-Booker-Prize in 2011 and was a World Book Day recommended read. Nod by Adrian Barnes was short listed for The Arthur C Clarke Award 2013 and I’ve e just sold the Film and TV rights to 20^th Century Fox. Pig Iron by Benjamin Myers won the inaugural Gordon Burn Prize this year’. Legend Press also runs its own annual prize, the Luke Bitmead Bursary, with the offer of a publishing deal for a new author each year, and Tom Chalmers says ‘We are incredibly proud of working with the Bursary and the fantastic writers it has given opportunities to since launching’.

Tobler and Hamilton-Emery spoke about their excitement at having novels shortlisted for the Booker Prize, but both stressed that their businesses hadn’t changed massively as a result. For Hamilton-Emery, the recognition was a sign that the business was moving in the right direction ‘It was a marvellous experience for everyone involved with the book, and wonderful for Alison Moore, who is such a fantastic writer and totally lovely person. We were thrilled for her. Before it happened we had already brought new editors into Salt, including Nick Royle, Alison’s editor (The Lighthouse was his first book with us), so we felt very confident that opening Salt up to new ideas was the right thing to do and we’ve carried on in much the same way since.’ For Tobler, it helped to spread the word about And Other Stories: ‘it gave us a chance to hire part-time UK and a US publicists. It's not changed the business massively. We still need to keep applying for all the funding possibilities we can find and hoping that an enlightened benefactor comes along to let us do more of the projects we'd love to do!’

It’s heartening to realise that the publishers I spoke to had achieved such recognition. Although some publishers will fail, as in every other industry, overall the impression I received was that there is still a strong community of independent publishers based in the UK, each of which has a defining characteristic. I could have mentioned Dedalus, the home of literary decadence, currently celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, Pereine Press, with their themed catalogues and subscription model, or Galley Beggar, leading the way with their publication of weekly e-book ‘singles’. For all the chaos behind the scenes at Granta, the publisher can claim the Women’s Prize and the Booker this year, a remarkable achievement. With the sheer volume of books now available to readers, from the mass of self-published work to amazon’s inexhaustible supply of back-catalogue reads, it isn’t surprising that sales figures for individual books may be down, but there is clearly still enough of a market for literary fiction to support independent imprints which make the effort to connect with their readers.