Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It. This went on to be called “one of the most important non-fiction books of the year” by the Sunday Times, and became a Barack Obama summer- reading list pick. “Whether we agree or disagree with every-
thing in a book, the purpose of publishing is to stimulate debate, especially in non-fiction, and it’s in relation to the most sensitive issues that we most need debate,” says Broccardo. “It is not up to us, as publishers, to decide what the public should think. Our job is to give them a variety of views so they can make up their own minds.”
Spying gems The pair are entrepreneurial in terms of acquisitions. They find books through tradi- tional routes such as agents, the slush pile or recommendations, while also chasing down authors and titles that might have “slipped through the crack”, including Americans without UK publishers. The prime example of this is David McCloskey
( 3), the former CIA analyst-turned-spy novelist and now co-host of Goalhanger’s The Rest is Classified podcast. Swift published his debut, Damascus Station, in 2023 after it had been released by WW Norton in 2021 in America. “I realised no one had published it in the UK, so called it in and loved it,” says Richards. “Thank goodness we did.” Indeed: McCloskey has gone on to be Swift’s biggest brand, respon- sible for the indie’s top three bestsellers through NielsenIQ BookScan’s Total Consumer Market (TCM) since launch, who accounts for 30% of Swift’s all-time TCM sales. McCloskey’s fourth title, The Persian, is off to a roaring start: published at the end of January it has already shifted 6,000 hardback units. Richards adds: “Our promise to authors from
day one was that while we might not always be able to match the biggest companies on advances, we would absolutely match them on everything else. We’re members of the Independent Alliance, and can provide brilliant marketing and publicity campaigns that deliver attention and sales.” Swift says a third of its titles were picked as a “book of the year” by a national newspaper
or magazine in 2025 and, since the first one rolled off the press in September 2020, they have been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award, the Baillie Gifford Prize, the Orwell Prize, the Encore Award, the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. The reputation it is building means Swift
has managed to acquire works by big beasts such as Bret Easton Ellis (The Shards) and John Banville (The Singularities). “I grew up reading those two, so to have the chance to hang out with Bret when he was in the UK, and to have a glass of wine with John in Dublin, was amaz- ing,” says Richards. Swift has come a long way since Broccardo,
at the time commercial director at Profile Books, and Richards, a publisher at John Murray, decided to start the business. They had 35 years of experience between them, a slew of commer- cial and critical successes to their names, and had secured investment from Faber’s co-owners, Geoffrey Faber Holdings and Set Copyrights (the TS Eliot rights-holding company), representing the first time either outfit had financially backed another publisher.
Hard launch Launching during the Covid-19 pandemic was tough. The firm did not have an office at that stage, so both were working from spare bedrooms and both had young children. But “it felt like a risk worth taking” and the investors were excited by the pair’s “outstanding and complementary” track records. “The risk in some ways would have been
staying put,” recalls Richards. “We had a sense that if we didn’t do it now we never would.” While initial set-up costs were high, success-
ful titles have since generated cashflow, a growing backlist provides regular income and overheads are kept low. Annual turnover has grown from £500,000 to £2.5m, and the inten- tion is to continue expanding with “careful but ambitious” growth funded from profits. The team now includes a marketing and publicity manager, an editorial assistant, a part-time operations manager, and they were joined by Robin Baird-Smith, formerly of Bloomsbury, in a part-time editorial director role in 2024. As they scope out the next five years, they are also on the hunt for a full-time commissioning editor. “The business model for physical books
hasn’t fundamentally changed in 200 years,” says Richards. “Basically, you have to make sure the number of successful books you publish more than covers the ones which lose money.” Swift is confident for 2026, with much buzz
3
around titles such as Freya India’s Girls®: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything, and the paperback of Alexander Starritt’s Drayton and Mackenzie, a “modern novel almost Victorian in its scope”. Another one likely to generate discussion when it is released in October will be Our Islands’ Story, which is billed as “a positive but not triumphalist view of Britain’s history” by Nigel Biggar and Robert Tombs.
Up and coming
Mason Currey Making Art and Making a Living 9th April, £18.99, HB, 9781800751149 The Daily Rituals author’s entertaining look at the schemes and odd-jobs artists have employed throughout the years to put food on the table.
Martin Sixsmith Suing the Kremlin: The Battle for Putin’s Billions 4th June, £25, HB,9781800755062 The former BBC Moscow correspondent’s story of the legal team pursuing Vladimir Putin in courts around the world, trying to recover the billions he has plundered from Russia and its citizens.
Jeremy Hunt Can We Be Rich Again? 4th June, £25, HB, 9781800756878 A look at how to fix the British economy from the Tory MP and former Chancellor of the Exchequer under the Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak governments.
Ariel Lawhon ( 4) The Pirate Queen 10th September, HB, £16.99, 9781800755659 Bestselling American historical novelist Lawhon’s Ireland-set tale based on Grace O’Malley, the Irish noblewoman/pirate folk heroine.
David McCloskey London Station 8th October, £20, HB, 9781800755765 McCloskey’s fifth outing of his bestselling Artemis Procter spy series.
4 “One of my previous bosses, Andrew Franklin,
said that when you run your own company the highs are higher and the lows are lower – and that makes a lot of sense,” says Broccardo. “But the joy comes from building a business and creating beautiful books. It’s exciting how quickly we can make things happen – we make decisions and go for it. In publishing you have to work hard, trust your judgement and have a bit of luck. It’s not like roulette, though. You can stack the odds in your favour.”
27
CLAIRE MCCORMACK HOGAN
KRISTEE MAYS
London Book Fair Special Company Spotlight
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