Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I thought I would post a little about this company, now that we have reached the middle of the year.

Last year, when Borders and Books Etc in the UK shut up shop, I felt that a small independent press would not be able to hold its own, and gain fiction orders on new books, at the one brilliant remaining chain, Waterstone's.

So we stopped doing new books, and 38 titles were chosen by Penguin UK. I prepared to see this list slow down.

But sales all the way through this year have been very high. It's not just amazon, we have had great orders from Urban Outfitters, HMV and many books are on courses and selling well. We have reprinted at least 6 titles, including Spike Bucklow's The Alchemy of Paint, which is selling in the Uffizi Gallery Florence and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art - all over the world.

I am doing consultancy for a Cambridge publisher, and enjoying less pressure and fewer bills. I have done yoga and pilates, and tennis, and this year has just been more relaxed. But Marion Boyars Publishers appears to be a survivor, in every sense. So if you see me at awards and book events, don't be surprised - any more than I am, anyway!