London's small book publishers
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By Kate Riordan. Photography Rob Greig
Posted: Mon Feb 26 2007 
Alma 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).- Add your comment to this feature
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16 comments
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
I have a book ready for publication Can you help
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
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...
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.