Rapid growth for Thistle Publishing
17 Jun 2013
The agency’s new in-house publishing imprint has been quickly expanding, with more than 50 books published in the last two months.
A number of these have reached the Amazon bestseller lists, including David Stafford’s Spies Beneath Berlin, David Haviland’s Why Was Queen Victoria Such A Prude?, and Mary Hollingsworth’s Conclave, which was published days after the Pope stepped down, and which Simon Sebag Montefiore described as follows: “If you want to understand what’s happening in the Vatican now, read this book. grippping, lurid and fascinating, both scholarly and utterly readable, oozing with original academic research, it’s a minute-by-minute, day-by-day account of all the intrigues, manoeuvres, deals, politics and scandals of a papal conclave.” Another of David Stafford’s history titles, Churchill & Secret Service, sold more than 5,000 copies in May alone.
The imprint’s latest releases include Paul Merrill’s hilarious Muddle Your Way Through Fatherhood, which has been generating lots of media coverage, as has Peter Daughtrey’s sensational new theory for the location of Atlantis: Atlantis and the Silver City – just published by Pegasus in the US.
Fiction releases have included collections of Guy Bellamy’s well-loved comic novels, originally published by Penguin, Mei Trow’s cult Lestrade detective mysteries, and RSC actor David Weston’s Dickens-inspired novel Dodger - Down Under, which was launched at a glamorous party last weekend. “I have always thought the Artful Dodger’s story needed telling and now David Weston has told it, in a wonderfully engaging way” - Julian Fellowes.
Forthcoming books include Roger Howard’s Operation Damocles, which tells the story of Israel’s secret war against former Nazi scientists, and has just been published in the US; model Rachel Woods’ guide to the beauty industry The Model’s Guide; and reissues of Andrew Lownie’s acclaimed biography of John Buchan, a three-volume collection of John Buchan short stories, and The Edinburgh Literary Companion, which will be launched during the Edinburgh Festival.
Publication through Thistle has also been the catalyst for a number of more conventional deals. Desmond Seward’s Richard III was reissued by Thistle, and immediately snapped up by Pegasus Books in the US. Chloe Govan’s Amy Winehouse - The Untold Story was serialised in The Sun. And a forthcoming Thistle book, on a secret army unit in Northern Ireland will be serialised in a national newspaper, alongside a major TV investigation.
For more details, visit Thistle Publishing.
