Tiny publisher beats giants on prize shortlist

Posted on June 6, 2005 by Chris Mitchell

More power to Serpent's Tail publishers - it's good to see them getting a bigger profile in the mainstream. More importantly, it's good to know that they've not only survived as an independent publisher, but are positively thriving precisely because of their own values. I haven't looked at ST's new releases for ages - their website is a masterpiece of simplicity and currently offers a free catalogue too.

Reuters: From his tiny London office, Peter Ayrton is quietly snapping up books rejected by the world's publishing giants and turning them into major success stories.

His Serpent's Tail Publishing has now set the literary world abuzz by scooping two of the coveted spots on the shortlist for Tuesday's Orange Prize, the English-speaking world's top award for fiction by women.

That is a third of the shortlist, an impressive record for a company with four employees and a self-proclaimed commitment to "extravagant, outlaw voices neglected by the mainstream".

But if editors at big publishing houses envy Serpent's Tail's Orange Prize shortlist success, Ayrton said they have no one to blame but themselves.

"People don't sell us rights without having tried the big houses first. So most of these books have been turned down by quite a few editors before they come to us," he said.

"The big publishers are cutting back on the number of titles they publish. They are counting more and more on big books that their marketing people think can sell a shedload of copies. They've become more conservative, which is good news for us."

"NOT EDITORS' JOB"

Take "We Need To Talk About Kevin", Lionel Shriver's shortlisted novel, which is about a teenaged mass murderer, described acidly through the eyes of his mother, who despises him, and suspects that he is evil from the moment he is born.

"A lot of women editors at big houses turned down 'Kevin' because of what they perceived to be its narrator's negative spin on motherhood. And that's not their job," said Ayrton.

With wicked satire of suburbia and an unflinchingly grim look at parenthood, "Kevin" became a lightning rod for debate, and a word-of-mouth hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

"I've been with Lionel Shriver to darkest Essex in the middle of winter with reading groups of 50-60 women. You should have heard the questions. They all had strong feelings about this book."

So did critics. The New York Times called it "a fearless whack at the shibboleths of family".

Now, some publishing giants that turned it down have been on the phone to Ayrton trying to buy the rights. More