Royal Tunbridge Wells, England, United Kingdom
As a publisher I'm always trying to find that thing that has never been said before, a new use of language that fizzes and crackles on the page, to give a voice to people who haven't had a voice before - like London gang girls or a woman who sees angels all her waking hours. I'm fascinated by the new technology and the changes in consciousness that come with it. Because I work at the commercial end of the business, I always look for clarity. I also find ideas for books often to come to me as jokes. I think 'Wouldn't it be funny is someone published a book called this' - and then 'Why not?' If a book is going to annoy a lot of people, it is in my experience probably a good idea. In 2008 my book The Secret History of the World was published by Quercus - in the UK and Commonwealth under the pseudonym Jonathan Black - then in the US, where it was a NY Times bestseller and subsequently in translation is many territories, includuing France, where it was also a bestseller. It's an odd, ludic, slightly subversive book that I still find hard to encapsulate several years later, but my favourite description of it is 'doing for history what Gulliver's Travels did for geography'. Last year I was glad to be asked to lecture on philosophy at Maastricht University. My subject was trying to imagine what a wholehearted belief in idealism might feel like today. I have written articles in The Independent on Sunday on how publishing is changing, how consciousness is changing, on celebrity culture and why celebrity is bad for those who are celebrities.
Newly launched imprint Coronet, features authors including Chris Ryan, SAS hero and author of many bestselling thrillers and Lorna Byrne, the Irish mystic, who sees angels in the way the rest of us see rocks and stones and trees, and Robert Lomas, sometimes said to be the model for Dan Brown's Robert Langdon, and co-author of the international bestseller The Hiram Key. These authors came with me from my previous job at Century, the commercial hardback imprint of Random House UK. I have also published a sort of Auberon Waugh 'greatest hits', called Kiss Me, Chudleigh, having fond memories of publishing Bron's autobiography at Century. New authors at Coronet include Britain's highest profile criminal lawyer, Nick Freeman, otherwise known as 'Mr Loophole', who will be explaining how he does it in his first book. Roger Pearce, former Commander of Special Branch, is writing a series of thrillers inspired by real-life events. In The Science Delusion leading scientist Rupert Sheldrake argues for a more open spirit of enquiry. FAM is the autobiography of Chyna, a member of a London girl gang, both sensational and harrowing, and giving a voice on the page to a section of society that has been extraordinarily creative and influential in music. Roger Field has written a groundbreaking military biography, Rogue Male, which reveals what the dogs of war really got up to during the Second World War when they were let off the leash. At Century we had a run of successes with celebrity autobiographies, including Frank Skinner, Peter Kay, Katie Price and Dawn French. At Coronet we will building on this. My colleague Charlotte Haycock - who also came over from Century - has commissioned Larry Lamb's very moving memoirs, Mummy's Boy and now Midnight Beast. We are interested in how the market is changing - and at such speed too! - and aiming to publish accordingly. Chris Ryan has written Chris Ryan Extreme - exclusively e- and I-book stories.
I was recruited as Editorial Director, Non-Fiction at Century, when Century was part of Century-Hutchinson. Later, after Century-Hutchinson became a part of Random House UK, I became Publishing Director of Century, and we enjoyed several very happy and record breaking years. Century authors included John Grisham, James Ellroy, Roger McGough, Lindsey Davis, Joe Calzaghe, Edward Rutherfurd, Bansky, Eric Clapton, David Bellamy, Paul McGrath and Dawn French. Authors I edited included Chris Ryan, James Rennie, Peter d'Adamo, Victoria Coren, Steve Collins, Norman Wisdom, Rob Newman, Tim Good, Reggie Kray, John Pearson, Derek Jarman, Auberon Waugh, Anthony Clare, Joseph Corvo, Oliver James, Gyles Brandreth, Holly Johnson, Roger Lewis, Daniel Farson, Bob Monkhouse, Craig Brown, Valentino Rossi, Graham Hancock, Martine McCutcheon, Neil McKenna, Robert Temple, Michael Crawford, David Rohl, Trevor Norton, Robert Robinson, Jeffrey Robinson, Richard Rudgley,Nigel Hamilton, Barbara Windsor, Marti Caine, Donovan, Arnold Wesker, Kevin Warwick, Frank Skinner, Peter Kay, Katie Price, Robert Lomas and Chris Knight, Tina Brown,Rod Liddle and Lorna Byrne.