Richard Charkin launches Mensch Publishing

Veteran publisher Richard Charkin has launched his own company, Mensch Publishing.

“Experienced (in other words, old) publisher Richard Charkin is to launch a new business,” the company's launch announcement reads, with the venture inspired by various “Mensches” or "heroes" Charkin has known, such as the late Peter Mayer, one-time chief at Penguin.

Charkin, who was formerly Bloomsbury's executive director and remains president of Bloomsbury China, told The Bookseller: “When I stepped away from the board of Bloomsbury this year, I thought I have been working in publishing for 46 years and I’ve never owned my own business.

“I thought to myself ‘I am 69, it’s not too late’. I was struck by the feeling that there is a gap between the larger corporates and smaller independent publishers. I wanted to create a company which uses my background in business but also has a closeness and affection for the authors which is real.”

It is funded by “R Charkin, 100%”, and Charkin chose the word ‘Mensch’ because of the Yiddish phrase's connotations around “honesty" and "being upstanding” ( it is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "a person of integrity and honour").

“One of the reasons I decided to do it was because I have known a number of heroes or 'Mensches’," Charkin told The Bookseller. "People like Ernest Hecht [who died in February], Peter Mayer, Alexandra Pringle and Jessica Kingsley – I have been blessed to have known others as well.

“The trigger [for the launch of Mensch] was the death of Peter Mayer in [May]. He was one of the best, and when he died, I thought if I could be half the Mensch that he was, then I’ll be pleased."

“Mensch has no mission statement and no stated editorial strategy,” the announcement of the publishing launch reads. “Its aim is simply to help authors reach readers with minimal intervention and maximum impact and to reward them proportionately.  It will have ‘brilliant’ sales, rights and distribution handled by Bloomsbury, and a group of experienced (but not old) professionals to support authors, including Ruth Killick for publicity, Phillip Beresford for design, Peter Gill for copyediting, and Adrian Downie for web design.”

The corporate logo (below right) was drawn by "Spitting Image" founder Roger Law and the first title will be Time to Go by Guy Kennaway, described by the publisher as “a darkly funny memoir about assisted dying”, out in February next year. 

Charkin told The Bookseller: “I know what I don’t want to publish, and I know how to publish, but I couldn’t exactly say what I want to publish. I don’t want to do celebrity biographies, blog type books from pop stars or literary fiction carrying large advances.”

He expects to focus on the type of non-fiction “that does not immediately enter into Nielsen BookScan" and hopes to deal directly with writers as much as possible, building on his network of personal contacts – he is friends with Kennaway and his family which is how he first came across Time to Go. “I want to deal with authors directly more than agents," Charkin said. "When you get older, your number of contacts grows and so I have a very big address book. I don’t want to publish authors that I don’t like."

Charkin said he is not looking to do too much editing on the titles. “I think there can be too much editing. Of the author doesn’t have the gumption do a good job then they should to back and take another look." He also said he is eschewing the use of extensive business plans and five-year strategies.

“I have been so lucky to work in this industry,” Charkin said. “So if I lose a bit of money, I hope it’s not too much, but so be it. I’m learning so much. I thought I knew how to publish a book but now I’ve realised other people did, all of this around ISBN numbers and writing blurbs.”

Time To Go will be published in hardback on 7th February 2019 with the audiobook edition released simultaneously with Creative Content with narration from “The Crown” actor Alex Jennings. Charkin acquired world rights from Mark Stanton at The North Literary Agency.

Author Kennaway said: “Mensch is exactly the kind of outfit I want to work with.  It has all the experience and know-how of a conglomerate publisher, and all the excitement and fun of a start up.  Plus, I find it heartwarming to see the once c.e.o. of Macmillan running about getting people tea.”

Appointed to lead Bloomsbury China last October, and consultant to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Charkin holds a number of other roles including being on the international advisory board of the Frankfurt Book Fair and a member of the Council of the UK Publishers Association. Previous roles include executive director of Bloomsbury Publishing, c.e.o. of Macmillan, m.d. of the academic and general divisions at Oxford University Press, and president of the International Publishers Association, among others.

For more information, visit menschpublishing.com.