Myriad looks further afield for growth

Independent Brighton-based publisher Myriad Editions is increasing its publishing output in 2013, and acquiring novels by international authors for the first time in its history.

Myriad is planning to publish 10 books next year, part of a plan to "incrementally increase" the list, with six fiction titles and four graphic novels in the works.

Of the three début authors being launched, two are US authors—the first time the publisher has published authors from outside the UK, having originally focused on authors from the south-east of England.

Fiction editor Vicky Blunden bought world rights direct from Fayette Fox for The Deception Artist (May 2013), set in northern California during the late '80s recession, and world English rights from Becky Thomas at William Morris Endeavor in Tyler Keevil's The Drive, described as "a road novel packed with adventure, comedy and surrealism".

The winner and the two runners-up from the company's First Graphic Novel competition—Hannah Eaton's Naming Monsters, Gareth Brooke's The Black Project, and Ian Williams' Scrupulosity will be released in June and September 2013 and February 2014 respectively. Commissioning editor Corinne Pearlman bought world rights in all the titles.

Other books to come in 2013 include Never Forget by Lisa Cutts, a crime novel that won Myriad's annual Writers' Retreat Competition. Cutts is a police officer by day and the series will feature DI Nina Foster. Also coming is a graphic guide to pregnancy, Grow Your Own, by Kate Evans; The Schism by Robert Dickinson, his second book; and Summer of '76, the third novel by Isabel Ashdown.

Managing director and publisher Candida Lacey said Myriad was "pushing ahead" in 2013. Following successes such as Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes, Lacey said agents were beginning to take Myriad "very seriously", and said the company was going to become "very active on the rights front". Lacey added that the business of trade publishing remained unpredictable, "on a wing and a prayer", but that the company had made "some significant strategic decisions" this year, with Haynes moving to Little, Brown for her next books, and shifting from psychological drama into police procedurals.

Lacey said: "This was a very clarifying moment for us—going to Little, Brown is fantastic for her, and we shouldn't be spending all our resources to compete with them. This is what indies are all about—launching new names and making an impact, and then giving a chance to that next new name."