London's small book publishers
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By Kate Riordan. Photography Rob Greig
Posted: Mon Feb 26 2007 -
In an industry almost entirely dominated by big boys and blockbusters, it's a delight to discover the delicate charms of the capital's little literary imprints
Beautiful endpapers are a hallmark of Persephone's publications Persephone Books
Time Out pays a visit to one of London's most bucolic book publishersAlma Books
According to the Times, Richmond-based Alma Books was ‘one to watch’ in 2006. We catch up with them to find out why
Short Books
Startiing life as (yep you guessed it) a short books publisher, Time Out finds they are now a broad church
Snowbooks
We speak to the winners of Small Publisher of the Year at last year’s British Book Trade Awards
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Persephone Books
The floors are wooden and the walls decorated with vintage railway prints. Classic FM pours soothingly from the radio and books – of course – are piled high. Lamb’s Conduit Street has always been praised for its ‘village atmosphere’, but Persephone Books, at Number 59, is like stepping into Hay-on-Wye.
Appropriately named after the Greek goddess of the underworld, Persephone is both independent publisher and retail outlet. Most of the shop’s stock is their own: resurrected fiction written predominantly by women during the inter-war years which had either been neglected by larger companies or gone out of print altogether. Nicola Beauman started the list in 1999 after developing a passion for little-known books by authors like Dorothy Whipple and Susan Glaspell while she was at home bringing up her children. The heroines she discovered were, like her, ordinary middle-class women who had gone to university but abandoned the academic life to raise families. Despite the books’ everyday scenarios and accessibility, there was something quietly profound about them, and she felt sure they would speak to other women. As her office manager, Emily Hill, puts it: ‘It was feminism with a small “f”.’
Among the 70 numbered titles are more obscure tales by well-known writers such as Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf and Frances Hodgson Burnett. Other names are less familiar but have proved their worth by selling well, thanks, in part, to Persephone’s staff who excel at communicating their enthusiasm for the books to customers. Design is very important to Persephone: each book has an elegant dove-grey cover and its own distinctive endpaper with matching bookmark taken from a fabric issued in the year the book was originally printed.
'Now, where did I put that book...' Persephone started life in Clerkenwell. Now based in Bloomsbury – spiritual home of the bluestocking – it makes a quarter of its money from shop sales. Another quarter is made selling to wholesalers who, in turn, sell on to big players such as Amazon. The remaining half comes from mail order sales via a 10,000-strong mailing list which extends all over the world, from France to South Africa.
Until now, Persephone has published two ‘new’ titles each quarter – the next new ‘installment’ (as faithful subscribers to their Quarterly view it) is in April. However, these will shortly become biannual for a while to allow a new venture, Persephone Classics, to be launched. These will be smaller and blurb will be added to the back covers. (They are still debating how the endpapers can be retained and transferred to the front cover – a vertical band of pattern running down the side of the front cover is a strong contender.) Their stalwart fans were alarmed by this development, and wondered if Persephone was about to sell out. Hill says not: ‘We want to make it more democratic and to reach more people.’
Bestseller ‘Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day’ by Winifred Watson (20,000 copies).
Persephone Books, 59 Lamb’s Conduit St, WC1 (020 7242 9292/www.persephonebooks.co.uk) Holborn tube. Open Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, alternate Sats 12noon-5pm.- 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.