Tag Archives: Edinburgh

Monstrous Regiment

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Monstrous Regiment

Monstrous Regiment

Monstrous Regiment Publishing Ltd is an independent publishing press based in Leith, Edinburgh. It was founded by Ellen Desmond and Lauren Nickodemus in 2017.

Their passion for publishing working class writers, as well as topics of intersectional feminism and sexuality led them on a mission to curate bold and fresh content; the stories and lives they felt were often missing from bookshelves.

In 2018 Monstrous expanded to include one contracted in-house designer (Hannah Killoh) and two student assistant interns (Lauren Mulvihill and Kelli Staake).

Monstrous Regiment is based in Edinburgh and can be contacted through:

Website: www.monstrous-regiment.com
Twitter: @MonstrousRgmt
Instagram: @Monstrousregiment
Facebook: Monstrous Regiment (@Monstrous Rgmt)

In their own words…

When did you start publishing?

We opened our doors in April 2017 with our first publication arriving in December 2017. It was a slow start but it looks like the speed will be picking up for us from here on!

What made you want to start an independent publisher?

We come from very working class backgrounds and are very passionate about the issues facing minority authors. We wanted to set out to fill bookshelves with the voices that are often missing. We knew the problems facing the publishing industry include that the people in the top roles at many publishing houses are often white, cis, straight men. We thought the best way to change this was by becoming CEOs of our own company and changing things from the top. We don’t want there to always be the same old gatekeepers to what gets published. We were inspired by other small presses crowdfunding projects that brought grassroots and marginalized voices to the forefront. Crowdfunding seems to be a great way to help diversify the arts (we’ve seen 404 Ink, Marbles, Media Diversified, Knights Of, Knight Errant Press and many more do it successfully).

What genres do you specialise in?

We are an independent and intersectional feminist press, so feminism’s our specialty! Being intersectional is important to us and over the last two years we’ve gathered a very queer following.

Where are you based?

We are based in a wee flat in Leith, Edinburgh! We also have a shared workspace at Edinburgh Napier University’s start up business hub Bright Red Triangle as we started this business while students and they endorsed us non-financially.

Do you have a submission window, if so when? What is your submission procedure?

We currently don’t have a submission window open but look out for some opportunities later in the year! We do open calls for submissions for our literary magazines and anthologies, but we also commission behind the scenes and work with groups to improve our outreach. Moving forward, we will probably start to focus more on single authored books, as we are learning the hard way that we are too strapped for resources to handle such demanding, multi-authored projects. Our social media and websites will advertise any opportunities.

Who are you (team photo if possible)?

Monstrous Regiment Publishing Ltd is a feminist micropress based in a wee flat in Leith, Edinburgh, founded by two MSc Publishing graduates while still at uni in 2017. The co-directors (Ellen Desmond and Lauren Nickodemus) do this voluntarily, around their other commitments, because we really believe in it. Our passion for publishing working class writers came from our own backgrounds, and that combined with our interest in topics of intersectional feminism and sexuality led us on a mission to curate bold and fresh content; the stuff we felt was often missing from bookshelves – books and events about bisexuality stood out in particular as a gap in the market for sure.

In 2018 Monstrous expanded to include one contracted in-house designer (Hannah Killoh) and two student assistant interns (Lauren Mulvihill and Kelli Staake), paid in stipends.

Background in the book industry?

The co-founders (Lauren and Ellen) and in-house designer (Hannah) all have MScs in Publishing (though we don’t think they should be fully necessary for industry access)! Lauren has worked in book marketing in Edinburgh for two years and Ellen’s background is about 8 years of magazine publishing experience. Hannah currently also works in arts publishing.

Talk about some of your books if possible? and future projects/dreams if you can?

2017’s The Bi-ble, a collection of original essays and personal narratives giving platform to the thoughts and experiences relevant to bisexuals today, was our first publication. We crowdfunded for the original anthology print run having no idea it was so in demand. We now know the market need for this and have heard from many bookshops and readers that it has become the “go to” recommendation for someone searching for a book about bisexuality. We also know there are more stories than one (or a hundred) anthologies of this kind could ever tell. So this year we’re bringing The Bi-ble back with a fresh new look, but this time also publishing its little sibling Volume Two: New Testimonials, which is packed full of never-before-published essays. We’ve also published a few zines and two literary magazines (Emerald and Crimson). Later this year we hope to move on to novels, novels and different types of essay collections.

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Scotland Street Press

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Errant Blood

Errant Blood

We are committed to developing a publishing house that helps promote Scotland as a distinctive creative voice in the world. Women’s voices are under represented in literature as a whole in Scotland, and we intend to help redress this balance. We have discovered two outstanding first time female authors and generated a PEN Award for Tania Skarynkina and a nomination for the Carnegie Medal for L. J. MacWhirter. Our collection sees four memoirs by older women and twelve out of sixteen titles by women.

We are keen to create books that not only read well, but look beautiful; we aim to combine the visual design, binding, and cover with the literary merit of the contents. Our team of designers and printers work closely with the editorial team to ensure that the themes of the book are accurately translated into a tangible aesthetic.

We hope that our books liven your minds and hearts and inspire you to great things. There are often up to four of us in the office and we work hard on few resources.

Scotland Street Press is based in Edinburgh and can be contacted through:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScotStreetPress
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScotStreetPress/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scotstreetpress/
Website: https://scotlandstreetpress.com/

In their own words…

When did you start publishing?

2014

What made you want to start an independent publisher?

I had published a book with Random House and FSG in New York, and they did not want the companion volume, so without even prudently asking around I decided to set up an indie. (needless to say four years of full-on, unpaid, uphill learning has caused some moments of regret at rashness of decision)

What genres do you specialise in?

Memoir, autobiography, literary fiction and poetry

Where are you based?

Edinburgh

Do you have a submission window, if so when?

Not yet. We get too many without advertising.

What is your submission procedure?

Writers tend to make requests from the website.

Who are you (team photo if possible)?

We are currently Jean Findlay, head of publishing, Andrew Lindsay, sales and marketing, Lucrezia Gaion, intern, Valentina Auletta, Erasmus Trainee, and Megan Richie, one month internship.

Background in the book industry?

Jean has a lifetime working in literature of some sort: playwright, arts journalist, author. Andrew Lindsay has an MSc from Napier University in Publishing and experience in sales at Blackwells. Lucrezia works at the Broughton High School library and every trainee or intern who comes on board brings original ideas and self taught enthusiasm.

Talk about some of your books if possible?

We are proud to be the first to translate a book from the Belarusian language into English, for which we won a Pen Award. Belarusian is spoken by two thirds of the population in that country but the official language is Russian. The publisher in Minsk was shut down for publishing books in Belarusian and we had to buy the rights through Lithuania. Books written in an oppressed language are a hidden treasure. Tania Skarynkina’s book of essays, A Large Czeslaw Milosz with a Dash of Elvis Presley, is a cocktail of world literature seen from a forgotten town in a forgotten country. Her own photograph as the cover image can be seen as a metaphor for a country where the pig is king and where those who wear their hearts on their sleeves may have it skewered.

From Corsets to Communism by Jenny Robertson is a literary biography of Zofia Nalkowska, a Polish novelist who is regarded as one of the leading anti fascist writers of the last century. Her slim volume Medallions is on the reading list for Holocaust Studies in US universities. We know little of her here in the UK , being rather inward looking in our literary interests. This is her first biography written in English. Witness to two world wars and Poland’s struggle for independence, Zofia Nalkowska was a woman in a man’s world and rose to international fame as a novelist touring a war torn Europe.

and future projects/dreams if you can?

We have a new poetry list: Macsonnetries by Petra Reid is a feminist rewriting of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets for the iPhone age, some in Scots.

Aspects of Edinburgh by Stewart Conn with drawings by John Knight is a calm and meditative reflection on the city
Inside and Out – paintings by Christian Small with poems by Gerda Stevenson has just been featured on BBC Woman’s Hour and is a full colour art book.

Burds in Scots by Hamish MacDonald is poetry in Scots and paintings from long ago.

We have just won another PEN Award for a Belarusian novel.

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Luath Press

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Luath Press

Luath Press

An indie publisher that’s based in my home town, I’ll definitely have to organise a visit the next time I’m up and we’re allowed to meet people.

Especially since the view from their windows are going to be stunning!

Committed to publishing well written books worth reading.

Established in 1981, Luath Press is a leading independent book publisher with over 500 books in print including modern fiction, history, politics, travel guides, poetry and much more.

Luath Press Ltd.
543/2 Castlehill
The Royal Mile
Edinburgh
EH1 2ND
Telephone: 0131 225 4326
Email: sales@luath.co.uk

Website: https://www.luath.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LuathPress
Twitter: @LuathPress
Instagram: @luathpress

In their own words…

When did you start publishing?

Luath was found in 1981 by Tom and Rene Atkinson in Barr (near Givan in Aryshire). They set about writing and publishing the Luath Guides Series. Other books by other writers followed including a number of popular titles that have remained in print for many years, such as Mountain Days and Bothy Nights, Bare Feet and Tackety Boots and more.

In the meantime, Tom’s daughter Dee Atkinson had taken over the running of Napiers Herbalists and Tom found himself running Napiers Mail Order alongside Luath.

Tom died in 2007. In his obituary in The Guardian he was described as ‘the Alistair Campbell of Indonesia’. As a teenager he had gone to Spain to join the International Brigade, only to be sent home as he was too young to fight in the Spanish Civil War. In WWII, he was in the RAF Servicing Commandos and at the end of the war he was heavily involved in securing independence for Indonesia. He subsequently worked directly for the new president for over 15 years, in which role he wrote a speech on the status of smaller nations delivered at the UN. After ‘retiring’ from Luath in 1997, two further books by Tom were published by – Napiers’ History of Herbal Healing and Spectacles, Testicles, Fags and Matches – the latter recounting his experiences in WWII and afterwards in Indonesia.

Following Tom’s retirement, Gavin and Audrey MacDougall took over the running of the company and moved it from Barr to Edinburgh.

Since 1997, Luath has built on the sound core of well established books first published by Tom and Rene, and created various new series (On the Trail Of…, Walk With Luath, The Quest For, Let’s Explore, Luath Storyteller, Viewpoints, Wild Lives) and launched various new writers and poets (Alison Irvine, Daniel Gray, Rab Wilson, Mark Thomson and many more).

We are now situated in Edinburgh and we remain committed to publishing well-written books worth reading.

What made you want to start an independent publisher?

Tom had recently returned to Scotland and, finding there were no good descriptive guides to the popular parts of Scotland, was inspired to write and publish the Luath Guides Series.

What genres do you specialise in?

We publish a variety of genres from fiction to poetry to photography but we especially love politics, history and travel.

Where are you based?

Edinburgh’s famous Royal Mile. 543/2 Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 2ND

Do you have a submission window, if so when?

Our submissions are always open!

What is your submission procedure?

If you think you have written a book that may fit with Luath’s publishing programme, and would like to make a submission to us, please post to our offices:

  • A clear synopsis of up to 250 words
  • Which genre you would categorise it as (use our website categories as a guide)
  • Sample chapters or manuscript
  • A short biography
  • A pre-paid addressed envelope large enough for your manuscript to be returned in, should it be unsuccessful

Please try to ensure everything you send can be easily stored together – for example, held together with a paperclip or all put in a cardboard folder.

Please note that we cannot accept electronic submissions, only paper hard copies. Submissions or proposals sent by email will not be accepted.

If you do not enclose a pre-paid envelope, we will assume that you are happy for us to recycle your manuscript. You will still receive a letter notifying you of our decision. Do not send original copies or artwork. Luath Press cannot take responsibilty for any items sent to us. We do aim to respond to everyone who submits a piece of work but if you have not heard from us after a year, you can assume your submission was unsuccessful.

Talk about some of your books if possible?

Our best known book is Darren McGarvery’s Poverty Safari which won the 2018 Orwell Prize and was reviewed by the elusive J.K. Rowling. We have also recently published a fictional retelling of George Orwell’s life (Barnhill: A Novel by Norman Bissell) in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four. And, we have an upcoming book by Ellie Harrison, The Glasgow Effect, which is partially a reaction to Poverty Safari and in part the inspiration for Poverty Safari. The Glasgow Effect looks at many of the same themes of poverty and social mobility as Darren did but Ellie also discusses the climate emergency and what we can do about it.

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