Happy trains from Birmingham
Tindal Street Press prove ‘it wasn’t a fluke.’
Taking the Train to the Man Booker Prize
Why do I associate the train journey from Birmingham down to London with the Man Booker Prize? Perhaps I just don’t get out enough. But when the longlist for 2007 was announced late on Tuesday 7th August and there was our author Catherine O’Flynn and her debut novel What Was Lost sitting pretty at 8/1 according to William Hill, it meant I needed to take the train again on Thursday for the sales and publicity briefing at the Groucho Club. The Booker’s dozen, thirteen proud representatives from publishers, friendly, chatty, but all the time wondering who would make it to the all-important shortlist party in a month’s time; and who wouldn’t? So: another train journey and that exquisite tingle of anticipation again. Could she? Might she? And why ever not?
Naturally I was reminded of September 2003, when the shortlist announcement came concerning Clare Morrall’s Astonishing Splashes of Colour. I took the call in my garden while reading an unsolicited manuscript: We have to go to London tonight, I heard. Same journey, but the first induction for me and my colleague, Publisher Emma Hargrave, into the dizzy world of literary parties as guests of honour. When Publishing News printed our photograph, she remarked afterwards that we looked like rabbits caught in headlights. But despite the glare, we relished the opportunity to talk to the judges in person and receive congratulations from journalists, and indulge in some opinionated book chat, which I seem unduly to enjoy. (Though perhaps I should expunge from my memory the moment my front tooth (a loose crown) fell out while talking to Chairman of judges, Professor John Carey.) Of course, after the shortlist, the world changed at Tindal Street Press – and for Clare. Overnight.
Doors we used to knock on swung wide open. Congratulations, invitations, interviews, offers of help, requests for free copies … and sackfuls of submissions too. We decided we would handle the avalanche of publicity and the offers ourselves. The workload for a lean, but energetic and talented, team of three was considerable. We sought advice and made our decisions with due care and alacrity. The Bookseller claimed to feel sorry for us for the unsettling brevity of our moment of fame. It is certainly a risky undertaking, with the challenges of reprinting, press coverage and rights all requiring the shrewdest judgement. We responded, I hope, with dignity: we insisted it wasn’t a fluke; we would enjoy our moment in the sun and good luck to our author if she went on to a more prestigious publisher. As things turned out, Clare Morrall’s Natural Flights of the Human Mind was published in January 2006 by Sceptre … in association with Tindal Street Press. Clare had decided on a generous two-book deal (we couldn’t compete in that auction), but insisted on loyalty to the small press who started her career. She was a fine author for us; she performed superbly, with engaging honesty and intelligence, throughout the whirligig month from shortlist to slap-up dinner in front of the TV cameras. In a round-up of that publishing year, the Independent singled out Tindal Street Press: ‘The outsiders on the Booker shortlist, the tiny Birmingham publisher coped magnificently with the challenges and dangers of sudden fame. Exploiting in the best sense, they came to the ceremony “feeling we’ve won”. TSP’s Brum address is The Custard Factory, but there was no egg on anyone’s face.’ We pinned that one on our office wall.
In 2007 it hasn’t been quite so much of a surprise that Catherine’s name figures on the longlist. Our expectations have grown. What Was Lost’s track record is impressive. An endorsement by Jonathan Coe was the start of it; then a glowing review in the Observer, the Guardian and then, tellingly, in the Daily Mail. Here was a well-crafted novel with depth and substance, and wide reader appeal. From the beginning the reader feedback has been warm. When Catherine was longlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize, her name was next to Anne Tyler, an all-time idol for our author. Emma Hargrave accompanied her to the prize ceremony, where tears were shed by one judge distraught that What Was Lost didn’t make it to the shortlist. And it was Emma who took the train for Catherine’s Radio Five Live Book of the Month appearance with Simon Mayo, his panel and his listeners, who all loved this remarkably funny and insightful book.
There have been other train journeys. Ten out of our total of 33 titles published since 1999 have been listed for national literary prizes. When Michael Richardson won the Sagittarius Prize for his hilarious The Pig Bin, the best first novel by a writer over 60 in 2001. (The sequel Careless Talk is due out in October 2007.) When Canadian/ Barbadian Austin Clarke received his Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2004 for his majestic slavery epic The Polished Hoe. When Anthony Cartwright received his Betty Trask award in 2004 for The Afterglow and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys and the James Tait Black in 2005. Each time we get more used to the train journey and the welcoming company of the literary and publishing world. The welcome bespeaks our novelty value, but also contains a touch of: Good on you, you plucky independent. Anyway, who’s counting the prizes? Independent operations like Tindal Street Press, that’s who. The prize listings are important because such publicity can’t be bought and wins visibility for our books beyond the literary columns of the Guardian and Independent. It’s simple: more readers get to enjoy our books.
In February we launched Catherine O’Flynn’s What Was Lost at south London independent bookshop Crockatt & Powell. The owner enthused delightedly about his discovery on the bookshop’s blog, encouraging much unprecedented internet review activity. I can say with confidence that online reviews, discussion and sales have been one of the key differences between 2003 and 2007 Man Booker Prizes. The longlist this year is also blessedly shorter, allowing more focus on authors before the final shortlist cut. We are exceptionally proud of our author, and proud to have featured twice on the Man Booker longlist in the space of four years. I’d like to think the new Man Booker motto: Fiction at its finest, fits well with that sense of achievement.
Alan Mahar is Publishing Director of Tindal Street Press
Click here to read an exclusive interview with Catherine O’Flynn for Perspective magazine
To listen to an interview with Catherine O’Flynn please visit Telegraph.co.uk’s Man Booker page.
