Salt has announced that its half year sales have increased 82% compared to the same period last year. The poetry and short story publisher has seen annual sales increase by 104%.
?We?re delighted with the results,? says Chris Hamilton-Emery. ?We have a strong line up in this year’s Forward Prizes for Poetry, Charles Yu has just been selected as one of the US?s finest fiction writers under 35 by the National Book Foundation, and we?ve a strong line up in the Premier?s awards in Australia. It?s been an exceptional few months, really, though we’re quite exhausted!?
With Luke Kennard?s poetry bestseller, The Harbour Beyond the Movie, and a raft of new quality hardbacks coming out from the press there seems clear evidence that the literature market is buoyant.
?Actually, we’re not sure that the overall market is increasing, though we’re certainly gaining market share, and we’re probably the fastest-growing poetry press in the UK just now and certainly have the largest publishing programme,? says Hamilton-Emery. ?We?ve continued to push up market, and the commissioning is leading the way, quality is the driving force, but nothing sells itself and we?ve learnt a great deal from Will Atkinson at Faber. Collaboration matters, and respect for, and working closely with, the bookseller can transform a ?boutique? literary publisher like us. We’ve had wonderful support from literary editors in the broadsheets, too. Clearly, we’re finding some of the answers, but we’re always learning as a business.?
Salt publishes around sixty titles a year in the UK, USA and Australia and recently appointed a US Sales and Marketing Director. This year the business launched a new short story list with eleven titles and has just signed the Frank O’Connor-shortlisted author Manuel Munoz for the UK list.
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