Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Delight of Man Booker shortlistees


Diana Broccardo, sales and marketing director for both Profile and Serpent's Tail, has spoken of the publisher's "delight" at seeing Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves on the Man Booker shortlist.
Meanwhile shortlisted authors including Ali Smith [pictured] and Neel Mukherjee have also spoken of their reaction to the news.

Five authors on the six-strong shortlist, announced this morning, are published by Penguin Random House. Broccado said she was "sad to see we are the only independent publisher on the shortlist", noting: "There are fewer independents around in general, with Quercus and Constable & Robinson being sold earlier this year, so I think it can only be expected that fewer independents will make the shortlists of important book prizes going forward in the future."

Fowler's novel has been the most popular at the tills by a huge margin, selling over 23,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan since the longlist was announced - more than the rest of the shortlist put together. None of the other shortlisted titles have sold more than 2,000 copies, with the caveat that some were published in the weeks following the longlist announcement.


The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Chatto) has sold just over 1,500 copies, while Howard Jacobson's J (Cape) has sold just under 1,500. How To Be Both by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton) has sold nearly 1,300 copies. The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee (Chatto) has sold just under 1,000 copies, while To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (Viking) has sold nearly 800 copies so far.

Broccado said the publisher had sold 150,000 e-books of Fowler's title and 85,000 international copies. Serpent's Tail has increased the print run by 30,000 copies on hearing the shortlist announcement but already "had a lot out there".

"I would have usually said a Booker shortlisting is completely transformative, but we have really pushed this book and sales have been great before that. But there is no denying, this is our Life of Pi moment," she said. "This is only our second ever Booker shortlist nomination. For us going forward, we hope it will make retailers, particularly internationally, take us more seriously."
PRH UK c.e.o. Tom Weldon has already spoken of his pride at having five of the six Man Booker shortlisted titles, calling it "a great testament to the quality and diversity of Penguin Random House's fiction publishing."

Meanwhile Simon Prosser, publishing director of Hamish Hamilton, commented of Ali Smith's presence on the shortlist:  "I truly couldn’t be happier: Ali Smith is wonderful, and this is, I think, her best book yet. It is a delight to see it on the shortlist." Smith herself said: "What a delight to be on the list – especially in this reaching-out year."

Meanwhile at Chatto, Clara Farmer spoke of "deep joy" that Richard Flanagan "whom many of us have read and loved for years" had now been recognised by the Man Booker, while senior editor Poppy Hampson felt the same about the appearance of Mukherjee's "big, bold, ambitious and searing novel" on the shortlist. Mukherjee himself told The Bookseller: "My heart is beating a bit fast. Some dreams are so dream-like that you don't dare to dream them. Every writer writing in the English language would like a pop at the Booker, but it is such a lottery, I feel luck has brought me to this point… I am especially proud to be on the shortlist with someone who I think is one of the greatest British writers of all time – Ali Smith – who is changing the shape of the novel bit by bit."
Jonathan Cape publisher Dan Franklin avowed Jacobson's shortlisted novel J would be "seen as his masterpiece."

US novelist Joshua Ferris remarked: "I'm honored to be shortlisted for the Man Booker. But whereas you guys spell it 'honour' with a 'u,' I leave out the 'u,' which had to be something for the judges to overcome during the selection process. I'm glad they overcame it. So I'll say it again: I'm deeply and delightedly honored."

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