Irish Publishing: Several international publishers have set up Irish offices, dramatically changing the face of publishing and giving Irish writers direct access to the UK market. But, reports Shane Hegarty, local publishers are not unduly concerned about this 'mini-colonisation'. And everyone is looking for thenext big thing.
Given the number and the calibre of writers Ireland produces it was only a matter of time before, instead of them hawking their wares to the market overseas, that market would come and find them on their home turf. Recent developments have changed the face of the Irish publishing landscape dramatically.
"You can never be a great Irish publisher out of London," says Michael McLoughlin. After five years as a publishers' PR agent, he is now head of Penguin Ireland, one of a number of international publishing houses which has set up office in Ireland. "Penguin felt that we weren't quite getting it, that they needed people on the ground to get the next success. About 18 months ago, I began talking to them. They felt that Ireland was hugely important, which it is. Ireland would make up 5 to 10 per cent of lots of British publishers' business."
It will be a chance, he says, for writers to get a decent deal at home while knowing they'll have direct access to the UK market. It will also bring all the expertise and money of a major publisher and apply it in a market he feels never quite broke through the ceiling. "For years Irish publishing wasn't at that level, particularly in relation to editorial skills. In this regard, London really is a centre of excellence."
Penguin Ireland aims to publish maybe 20 books in a full year, split in favour of non-fiction, but with the hope of finding literary fiction that McLoughlin feels is being missed in the rush for popular fiction. "There was a need for a more rounded general publisher, although I should say that we're under pressure for great writing, not on the number of books we produce."
Brendan Barrington, founding editor of the literary periodical The Dublin Review, will be the Penguin Ireland editor charged with turning up the literary fiction. He isn't so hard on native editorial talent. It's difficult to assess, he says , as you can never really tell from just reading a book. "Even if a book itself has manifest faults, it's not to say that there wasn't a good editor involved in it." He gained his own experience during seven years as an editor at the Irish publishing house Lilliput Press. "Whatever strengths and weaknesses I have were set there."
The relationship with the author will be key, he says, because, while there are plenty of good editors, many of them don't actually enjoy working with authors. Penguin will attempt to transcend what he calls the "logic of the London/Dublin divide," by trying to foster a small press atmosphere but with all the advantages inherent in being a major international publisher.
They will not be alone in this mini-colonisation. Hodder Headline, after dabbling in the market for four years through a Lir imprint which found great success with Pete McCarthy's McCarthy's Bar, has also set up an Irish venture.
"We had been talking about it for a long time," says managing director Breda Purdue. "Hodder had such a big programme of Irish writers anyway, but they were being looked after from London. We had set up the Lir imprint four years ago, which was looked after through London. We had an editor there, but when she left we had the choice of either letting it go or taking it a step further, so we decided to take a step further."
With offices in Castleknock, Hodder Headline has appointed an Irish editor - Ciara Considine, previously of New Island. Purdue does not feel that the quality of editors in Ireland is lower than across the water. "There are some really good editors working in Ireland, and as I have one of them here I certainly don't believe otherwise. What's more important from an author's point of view is the direct link-up with the UK, because almost the first question they ask is 'what will happen with England?'"
It was a pre-occupation for many Irish writers that opting for a deal with an Irish publisher meant settling for an Irish audience only, but that too has changed with the trend over the past decade of Irish publishers forming associations with international publishers to gain wider distribution and markets for their titles, Lilliput working mainly with Penguin and Gill & Macmillan with Macmillan for example. There is also Townhouse's partnership with Simon and Schuster
"Irish publishers knew that what they were missing was an international platform, even if the likes of Poolbeg and New Island have been doing excellently in this regard," says Alison Walsh, editor for Gill & Macmillan's Tivoli imprint, who worked as an editor with both Orion and Harper Collins in the UK. "Without their work, there would be no UK publishers coming into Ireland in the first place. All writers want to make it in the UK. They really have become slightly UK-obsessed. Now that the publishers are here it gives them a validation for that."
Native know-how, however, has counted for a lot. "Irish publishers have always been that bit sharper and wiser," adds Walsh. "They know everyone. They deal with the bookshops. They can get their authors networked really, really well. UK publishers never had this. They tended to use the same marketing package here as in the UK even when it didn't apply as well. So having an Irish arm will give them an 'in' to this."
Hodder Headline's interest is actually a recognition of the native industry's strength, says Breda Purdue. The likes of New Island and Poolbeg - credited by many with kick-starting the phenomenon of popular fiction by Irish women writers - have driven the market forward. "What's been happening here has made Hodder Headline look to Ireland, so I wouldn't rubbish it."
Within the industry itself, there is sanguinity about the effect all this might have.
"I think it's a good thing," says Fergal Tobin, President of Clé, the Irish Book Publishers' Association and also publishing director at Gill & Macmillan. "It injects a degree of vitality into the trade. I know that companies always say that they welcome competition when they don't, but in this case we really do."
He points to the experience of the industry abroad as an example of how hardy small publishing houses can be. "There's always some sort of danger of publishers either being bought out or being squeezed out of the market, but I'm struck by how many have survived in the UK and the US. Publishing does lend itself to the small. Even large houses tend to be broken down into smaller units through their imprints. To be honest, I would feel that it is small book shops which face a greater danger than small publishers."
Other global publishing firms may follow the trail to Ireland, but, he points out, a market equivalent to the population of Greater Manchester cannot expand indefinitely.
The hardiness of native publishers is echoed by Anthony Farrell, whose Lilliput Press is one of Ireland's most established. "The core seed has always been independent publishers. They're the ones that usually develop the unknown voices that ultimately feed the mass market."
The new developments are, he says, "very good for writers and very good for agents," and simply the "free market at play". Besides, Irish writers have been looking to the UK for years anyway, and publishers cannot "hold on to reluctant authors".
Lilliput, he says, doesn't feel particularly threatened. "A lot of what we do is not necessarily market driven. But it will put us on our toes, even if we don't see them as a massive commercial threat. I'm in the market long enough not to be particularly worried, although we can't match the advances."
There's the magic word. There is the notion that big companies mean big advances. It will certainly mean bigger bucks, even if both Penguin and Hodder Headline do point out that there are no blank cheques in their luggage. "Of course we will pay decent advances, but only when we feel it is worth it," says Breda Purdue.
Neither does it follow that there will be a sudden creative explosion. Irish authors who would previously have looked towards London, may simply look closer to home. "Ireland may have a great literary tradition, but it is a small circle of writers," says McLoughlin. "You can count on two hands the number of really good writers in Ireland at any one time. I don't expect that six new, great writers will suddenly pop up over the next 18 months. If we have one or two great novels in two years then I'll be very happy."
Alison Walsh already sees an even subtler shift within the industry. While it was during the women's popular fiction explosion of the 90s that the UK publishers first began to notice the potential in the Irish market their fullscale arrival here is taking place just as editors are waiting to see where it all goes next.
"The wave of women's popular fiction is over," insists Walsh. "There is no big literary movement happening. The crime novel is in the descendant. I'm seeing a lot less of the 'girl about town' stuff too. There are more older writers and historical novels too, but few male writers. There's a feeling in the industry that we're waiting to see what happens next."
The race is on to be the publisher who figures that out.