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  • London's small book publishers

  • By Kate Riordan. Photography Rob Greig


  • 06 CF book 4.jpgAlma Books
    According to the Times, Richmond-based Alma Books was ‘one to watch’ in 2006. Set up in 2005 by Italian husband-and-wife team Alessandro Gallenzi and Elisabetta Minervini, Alma (Spanish for ‘soul’) was preceded by Hesperus Press, also founded by the couple in 2001.

    Another imprint – they’re busy, these two – One World Classics has been established to reinvigorate classic novels which have been unimaginatively produced by bigger publishers. With a combination of high-quality binding, beautiful covers and new introductions by contemporary writers, the pair hope to endear the classics to a new generation who might previously have been put off by flimsy paper and cramped typesetting.
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    The couple use acid-free paper and ‘sawn’ binding (as opposed to the more common ‘perfect’ binding) – expensive touches which sound like financial suicide for a small independent – but Gallenzi says they ‘wanted to go back to the traditional values of publishing. Intellectual property is the most valuable commodity there is. It’s paying off. We have a good reputation and we deliver.’

    Considering its founders’ Italian backgrounds, it’s no surprise that roughly 40 per cent of Alma’s output is fiction in translation. (They’re about to establish a prize to encourage young translators.) And as with most small publishers, the relationship between editor and author is much more intimate than it would be at a corporate imprint. Established authors who don’t need big advances often prefer the smaller publishers’ approach, and Gallenzi believes in ‘building up the profile of the author’.

    Bestseller ‘Remainder’ by Tom McCarthy (5,000 in hardback, 20,000 in paperback).

    Alma Books (020 8948 9550/www.almabooks.co.uk).

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16 comments

  1. Posted by starlite on 22 Oct 2011 11:23

    hi there
    this is 'starlite' a poet; just finished my first novel, though,
    already published two poems books.
    'true poems' and 'life is a sword, keep fighting'
    with an international company.
    is available online (amazon) or free from the library.
    don't give up, bye.

  2. Posted by isoje david on 21 Oct 2011 19:30

    I am a young writer and i wish if you can publish a book i have written, over 1oo pages and autobiography of my life, thanks.

  3. Posted by Njoteh Ifeanyi Rivhard on 13 Oct 2011 08:46

    Good day sir
    i am a writer i want to get my books published but i dont know if you do sell for writers. i will like to ask three question.
    1 What does it take to publish
    2 will you sell the books your self
    3 what is the royalties share like
    Please tel l me other things i need to know.

  4. Posted by prabhat Baruah on 11 Apr 2011 06:21

    Bogapani1 is the title of my book. i want to sell the copyright @1720000 USD. It is the story of the down troden mass,livinng in a remote tea garden of Assam.

  5. Posted by Patrick Nash on 22 Mar 2011 14:17

    1.Is it necessary to have an agent to submit a novel to you?
    2.If not,what are your submission requirements?
    Many thank and kind regards
    Patrick F Nash

  6. Posted by Mohammed Abdulhaque on 19 Feb 2011 12:19

    writing is a art and to be a artist patience is needed. ©
    Now I am going to make you laugh, I have about 30 novels and I am writing, but I am not a published writer because, publisher don't like my story, as I am muslim.
    Time will come and the gloomy moon will shin. ©
    I also write poems.

  7. Posted by Michael Chukwuemeka on 12 Feb 2011 10:00

    I have just completed a book. It's based on the seemingly unending religious crisis in the city of Jos, Plateau state of Nigeria. I am currently seeking a publisher for the finished work and I have no doubt that i will find one in spite of the avalanche of rejections i hear every day that tumbles down on new and previously unpublished writers. No one is immune to rejection anyway except if you are not a writer. But it shouldn't kill our spirits.

  8. Posted by Mohammad Qureshi on 14 Jul 2010 13:01

    I have a book ready for publication Can you help

  9. Posted by ridendick mitro on 29 Jan 2010 07:23

    i complete six novels(60, 200+,200+,86,71,61, on DTP pages respectively) on world peace and innumerous poems and novels. if u read that that works r not world standred u will desrtoy it with abusing. i m journalist by profesion. kolkata, india.
    mobile:0091 9333111543

  10. Posted by Rimsha on 27 Jan 2010 19:33

    Hi!! i just completed my book. Its a fantasy book, and I want publishers to publish my book, am searching from a publisher, from quiet a while I really hope i get a response from here...

  11. Posted by Jade Naylor on 15 Dec 2009 22:01

    I have just finished writing a fantasy book and im looking at publishers at the moment, i have had a few interests but i thought maybe you would like to read it if you wouldnt mind? I look forward to hearing from you.
    Kind Regards
    Jade.

  12. Posted by annarita on 02 Oct 2009 17:28

    surely you are a good publisher, though, would like to know more
    about you, i;m still waiting to publish my poems book, tell me more.

  13. Posted by Jessica Kay on 16 Jun 2009 12:17

    There is also Other Criteria - a fantastic Art Publishing Company - www.othercriteria.com - web based and with shops on Bond Street and Hinde Street in London.
    You are best visiting Hinde st to get a better selection of books, posters and small, affordable artworks!

  14. Posted by I. Sinclair on 09 Feb 2009 15:18

    The Swedenborg Society on Bloomsbury Way has been an active publishing house since 1810. Still publishing GREAT books of essays discussing the influential ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, the 18th century philosopher and mystic, who inspired Blake, Yeats, Baudelaire, Dostoyevsky among others. Their books boast v. attractive and modern production/artwork also. See www.swedenborg.org.uk or visit the bookshop in Bloomsbury, just around the corner from the British Museum.

  15. Posted by K.N Jonathan on 24 Jun 2008 12:34

    I believe that there is still room for plenty. Rejections should be working as the catalyst to boost the energy in you to move forward with your dream. Any writer who takes in rejections as a stepping stone to sucess and still keeps on trying till he gets his work published will ultimately prove to be a Super Hero.

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