IN DEPTH
Company Spotlight Sandstone Press
ROBERT DAVIDSON FOUNDED SCOTTISH INDIE SANDSTONE 17 YEARS AGO
Sandstone Press on living the Highlands life
Te founder of the Scottish indie, twice longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in recent years, discusses the benefits of being disconnected from the publishing bubble and his team’s international outlook
Tom Tivnan @tomtivnan
S
andstone Press’ first big avalanche of media aten- tion was in 2011 when it scored a Man Booker Prize longlisting for Jane Rogers’ The Testament of Jessie
Lamb. It was a compelling story: an independent publisher based in Dingwall in the Scotish Highlands, one that had just launched its first fiction list, was in contention for the world’s biggest English-language literary prize. Yet there was a bit of condescension in some coverage, too—as if the reporters (particularly those from London) found it impos- sible that a firm in the far-flung provinces could conjure a Booker contender. Bob Davidson, who founded Sandstone in 2002, was and remains unperturbed by that angle from the media. He suggests such prejudice is par for the course for British publishers outside London, and he thinks that Sandstone, and other publishers not in the metropolitan bubble, should use geography to their advantage. He explains: “For us, to be a publisher in a famously beautiful locale, but not a ‘local’ publisher, is to be supremely advantaged in brand recognition aſter you have conquered the prac- ticalities. I have noted this at every step of the way: over- come the difficulties, and our aura gets a litle brighter. But the practicalit of being in touch with the only media that count—the buyers and sellers—is a real challenge. The answer is to go directly to the readers via personal appear- ances, hand-selling and the internet. Remember that the Continues overleaf
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