What's the indy publishing sector like in Manchester right now?"Indy publishing in Manchester is at the most exciting state it can be in; namely the very start... but the start of something real this time. Carcanet to one side, there's been nothing in the city for decades apart from the occasional false start. Ringpull Press (which discovered Jeff Noon) looked promising in the early nineties before it folded, and little magazines like Affectionate Punch and Prop were great, but they existed in a vacuum and inevitably didn't last. Now there's a slew of magazines and indie presses, talking to each other, bouncing ideas around, and generating demand not just meeting it. It's early days in terms there being an actual 'scene', but there's a dialogue, and not just a monologue. It's the start." Why do you think that is?"Because it's Manchester. There's no pressure, no bandwagon, no media... just genuine interest and enthusiasm. That's always been the Manchester recipe." You set up Comma Press a few years ago. How?| "Indy publishing in Manchester is at the most exciting state it can be in. There's a slew of magazines and indie presses bouncing ideas around. " | | Ra Page, Comma Press |
"I was stood in the kitchen with my partner Sarah, who was working in publishing at the time, and we just thought this lasagne's gonna be ready soon, and then we'll eat it. All this isn't very exciting is it? I know, why don't we set up a publishing empire? It honestly happened like that (it might not have been lasagne though)." How important is it for a city like Manchester to have independent publishers like yourself..."It's vital. The alternative is to have no literary, textual or journalistic culture whatsoever, or worse: have one that's merely the puppet of regional publicity departments in the London-based offices of multinational media companies. It's us, or it's them." What are your aims/goals/dreams for Comma Press?"To get more people reading short fiction, primarily. Everybody's willing to admit the short story can do great things and lots of people are prepared to patronise it now and again - through the odd prize or promotion. But none of that means a dickie bird if there isn't a solid, permanent publishing base for for the short. Several in fact. So our aim is just for Comma to be a regular, long term producer of quality British shorts. A reliable place people can go to for them." And you're the most prolific INDEPENDENT promoter of short fiction in the UK...."I did a calculation last year that we'd published more hardcopy short stories than any other independent in the UK (and in fact more than most of the majors)... We try to get about." How has the 'Manchester stories' anthology series evolved since its early City Life days..."With the first few editions of the series we were lucky and scooped some of the biggest names at the time - Nick Blincoe, Jeff Noon, Jane Rogers, Tibor Fischer, Tim Willocks, etc - and the fantastic Jackie Kay came on board for the Penguin book that evolved out of the series. Since then we've broaden the concept out into various strands, taken the pamphlet series to Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle; in fact we're just about to start bringing out full length books for all these cities. We've also got a very ambitious cross-Europe city story anthology, Decapolis, in the pipeline. We're launching it at the Manchester Literature Festival (19th-21st Oct), and it'll feature 10 stories from 10 different cities around Europe, one Manchester by David Constantine, and the other nine translated into English. The idea is to put urban Manchester short story writing into a wider European context." Is the short form overlooked as a form of literature?"In Britain it is, absolutely. We have 'big is better' mentality here. A writer isn't regarded as 'great' unless he or she has a huge ego, an epic sweep, a fat advance cheque, and a thick spine. Natural short story writers are always expected to bulk out and 'graduate' to the big time - i.e. write 'their great novel' - until then they're not big players. It's such a brash, fatuous prejudice. Nice one Britain!" Magazines like Transmission and All Saints No Sinners are publishing short stories now - is that a good thing?"A great thing. All hail Graham Foster and Susie Stubbs! And don't forget to hail Paul Neads of The Ugly Tree too! And the amazing Zoe Lambert who's Verberate night has brought all the live lit nights in Manchester into harmony with each other. Rock on Verberate!" What do you look for in a good short story?"Something with shape. Something that opens up and keeps opening up, stretching downwards, outwards, upwards. Something which unfolds miraculously before your eyes, or takes you by surprise and snaps shut so fast it takes the skin off your fingers. A puzzle wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a short story... offering its own solution." What else is Comma Press involved in?"Lots. We have a small, promising poetry list, with the likes of Joolz Denby on there, and leg-ends like the dadaist Manchester songwriter Ed Barton about to join (we're launching his book at Matt and Phreds, Mon 16th Oct). We have a whole new translation inprint, specialising in short stories again - from across the continent. We have a horror book that we're launching in the bowls of Central Library just before Christmas. We also have the beginnings of a film project bubbling under: starting with a series of film-poem adaptations (showing at Cornerhouse Tue 17th Oct), and then moving onto short story adaptations. For, hopefully, a mini festival of adaptations next year." Has the internet had an impact on your business - is it something you'd look at?"Amazon, paypal, abebooks, and the like have revolutionised some parts of the process, but not all of them. People still need to know what to look for, and that'll always keep Literature a fairly meatspace activity. myspace also helps people talk to each other more on the live literature front. I think the biggest thing though, might be mp3s. There's a great site started recently called Librivox that's getting volunteers to read and record open-source audio books. This kind of thing could revolutionise the audio book industry. Paradoxically, modern technology might actually take literature back to its oral roots. How cool would that be?" Would you like the indy publishing book fair to become a regular event ?"Absolutely. That's the goal!" The Manchester Book Market (1 -2 September 2006) has been developed by (DXN) Diversity Exchange Network, together with Literature Northwest and CIDS (Creative Industries Development Service) in partnership with Manchester Specialist Markets |
