Independents form consortium

The consortium, the brainchild of Alma founders Alessandro Gallenzi and Elisabetta Minervini, will share marketing, publicity, editorial and typesetting resources, with plans to extend this to sales in the future.
Gallenzi said: "Sharing sales makes sense as we can negotiate better with all suppliers as a group."
There are also plans to set up a common website where the publishers’ books can be sold. Gallenzi said this could then link with independent booksellers.
He is now looking for up to three more independent publishers to join the consortium. "We want to cherry pick publishers, and find people with the same ethos and approach to publishing."
He added that at present the four publishers’ lists do not overlap--Carcanet is a literary poetry and fiction publisher, Oneworld publishes non-fiction, Pushkin Press publishes classics, and Alma, which launched in October, will publish new fiction.
Carcanet publisher and m.d. Michael Schmidt said: "This will be like having all the advantages of a big publisher without any of the corporate tyranny."
Gallenzi concluded: "It’s always been our aim to create a community of book lovers and enthusiasts who can work together to bring the UK book trade back to where it belongs: into the hands of passionate editors and marketeers who know the difference between a book and a disposable object."