16.04.15
www.thebookseller.com
PROFILE MARK SMITH
17
year’s London Book Fair, feels the trajectory is realistic. “It feels like we are having much better conversations, and being taken much more seriously by agents and authors, [at an] earlier [stage] than at Quercus.”
TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG The children’s lists may prove more challenging. Smith’s arrival followed the surprise departure of Hot Key founder and m.d. Sarah Odedina last year, and more recently the loss of sales and marketing director Kate Manning. Smith is unapologetic. “Coming into the
children’s fiction business with fresh eyes and knowing that we were bringing in an adult fiction business, we were looking at the resources we needed. There were always going to be changes.” He wants both to grow the kids’ arms “at a reasonable pace, but nothing off the charts”, and initially expects the title count to come down from 100 to 50, but he will “try and get more out of them”. At Hot Key, he adds: “We’ll continue to do
YA and 12+ fiction but we’ll try to be more commercial. It published very well into the
literary end of that market, but the entire list does not need to be literary.”.” The combined businesses curr
arket, but the entir t
staff of 20, and he expects to grow it to 30 by he group will relocate ase t
nesses currently have a ec
the end of this year. The g
from its Clerkenwell base to west London, where the Oxford-dwelling Smith also housed Quercus. “I don’t think it will surprise anyone to see us moving to W1,” he says. cument
elling Smith also housed it will surprise an
Despite the well-documented travails at Quercus before its sale
of curbing his publishing instincing instincts. “At Quercus we had opportunities thatrtunities that came along that were sensible from a publishing point of view, but if you were deploying 40% of your cash on one author and you get it wrong, that s not great.
sensible
nt of view, ying 40% uthor that’
“In reality, in that
situation you shouldn’t be buying one book, you sold be buying 10. Now I can buy 10, it’s a completely different game.”
be sold
an ely
e, Smith shows no signs
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