In the run-up to Christmas there was a rash of orders and via the website we have sold around 200 copies – some to customers as far away as Australia. Within four months I could forecast a position that by April of this year I’d be able to pay back the investors and give them a 20 per cent premium – not a bad return. The deal is that the ‘talent’ – the author, editor, designer and publisher – now get the remainder of the money that comes in.

And Prince Publishing is looking at bringing out a new book, all hush hush and top secret don’t you know, but it is a bigger and more ambitious project and we shall all probably lose our shirts on it. But we’ll have some fun doing it.

The truth is that most unsolicited manuscripts are complete rubbish and there are also niche books, like the Chettle one, that will maybe sell a couple of thousand copies, and then there are the unexpected hits like George Courtauld’s book of patriotism which has made him a small fortune.

The internet has brought down the cost of self-publishing and technology has simplified the ordering process. Orders from the wholesalers are generated automatically so they are there on my laptop first thing in the morning. I then forward them to the printers who despatch them. The truth is publishing is cheap to do – it’s the other stuff like storage, distribution and overheads that cost the money.

And surely it won’t be long before mainstream authors are publishing their own books. After all, Damien Hirst cut out the middle men when he sold his works of art direct to the public, via Sotheby’s, so who’s to say that Frederick Forsyth or J.K. Rowling couldn’t do the same?

Blackwell Bookshop

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