The Book Depository: What/who do you see as your primary market?

Tom Chalmers: We publish high-quality fiction to appeal to as wide a readership in the mainstream market as possible. These were the books I used to pick up in shops and think how great it would be to run a company producing them. Legend Press was set-up to make a mark right in the centre of the book market as an innovative and dynamic independent, publishing books for today’s reader. This is our target area and, while it can sounded cliche, one of the main advantages of being a small publisher is that we can, and have to, get behind books because we love them – particularly with all the work that goes into them on a personal level through our small team. Therefore each book will have its own market; we have to calculate which section of today’s public will be predominantly snapping the title up, as well planning how we can broaden this base out to appeal to the wider public. The market has also changed; gone are the days when you can just pump out the latest in a long line of a certain type of book. Now, for a book to survive in the huge, merged and diverse consumer markets, it must be new, must offer something different that will capture the imagination, as well as being marketed extremely well. As a result we have to constantly stay aware of what will work for today’s general reader in addition to ensuring it is available via all traditional and new outlets – whether high-street/online, from booksellers to those who don’t even traditionally sell books.

BD: What are the principal challenges/opportunities you see at the moment in the business of publishing books?

TC: As already touched on, the industry and in particular consumerism has changed rapidly over recent years and will continue to evolve. The day of the ‘safe book buyer’ and when everyone published their specialist area and pushed it to bookshops that concentrated on that particular type of title are gone and all the dividing lines, from within and outside the industry, have been hauled down. In my experience the publishing industry as a whole has been too often unable and/or unwilling to accept this, clinging on to the good old days of cosy lunches and cliquey chats. This is now starting to change with numerous new and exciting initiatives launched over the last year or so and hopefully publishing will start to catch-up with numerous other industries, while maintaining its individual edge. For Legend Press, particularly as the youngest-run mainstream fiction publisher, these changed times provide both a huge challenge and endless opportunities. One of the few advantages a small publisher has is the ability to be nimble-footed and to implement creativity and initiative quickly. We have to act instantly when new opportunities arrive and also create our own – which, with so much happening both on and offline, is more possible to do than ever before. While the ‘safe book buyer’ may be gone, we have more direct access to today’s reader than ever before, both on a national and international level, and the challenge for publishing now is to find the best way of tapping into this huge potential.

BD: What brings you to the decision to publish a particular title/author?

TC: I hate terms like ‘x-factor’, but the writing simply must stand out, excite us and have that edge that snares our attention and interest. Dealing with such a varied range of writing in our publications is the most enjoyable aspect of running a small publishing company. It goes back to what I mentioned earlier – we have to love the work enough to make us incredibly passionate about publishing it. It also goes back to being something new (this doesn’t necessarily mean experimental, just being original and filling a space all of its own). It starts with passion but, with marketing being so important in today’s consumer world, we then have to assess whether it will appeal to a large readership and, if so, how we will get it to them, to ensure it has the chance to inspire them just as it inspires us. It is also no coincidence that several of our books have fascinating stories behind them, which adds another layer of interest to the title’s readers.

BD: What books are you most proud of having published?

TC: I really want to avoid sounding horribly predictable and insincere by saying ‘I love them all equally’ and I want to decisively select one in particular, but the truth is that I am proud of all of them in ways specific to that publication. I have a unique attachment to The Remarkable Everyday which was the first publication and the initial short story project that