Nick Davies: A Brand new challenge
Just as every dog has his day, every editor has his (or her) Christmas. This year, it's the turn of Nick Davies, who acquired arguably the celebrity success of the season, from Russell Brand (175,000 sales and counting), as well as a surprise hit from Pub Landlord Al Murray (83,000).
But Davies is not toasting this chart-topping double whammy with his Hodder colleagues. Three months ago he moved to Canongate‚ based in its west London home with monthly trips to Edinburgh‚with a brief to rebuild the non-fiction list. His new colleagues are understandably delighted at the timing. "Jamie [Byng, Canongate m.d.] keeps rubbing his hands and saying he's really looking forward to next Christmas," the self-effacing Davies says. "No pressure, then."
Some in the industry were surprised by the move‚ after all, Davies was also responsible for Billie Piper's book the previous year (she sent him a "very sweet" text message when it failed to meet sales expectations, apologising for not being as "salacious" as Kerry Katona).
Did the move herald Canongate's entry into the celebrity memoirs market? No, Davies says, and anyway the independent could hardly afford the £500,000 it took Hodder to snare Brand.
His transition makes more sense when you discover that Davies has a track record in serious non-fiction for Hodder's Sceptre imprint, such as Nabeel's Song, the Costa-shortlisted story of Iraqi poet Nabeel Yasin, and Ken Dornstein's moving Lockerbie tale The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky. And it is also worth remembering Canongate's success with edgy pop culture books, most recently Neil Strauss' dating guide The Game.
Davies has taken the role previously inhabited by Andy Miller, who he also succeeded as Fourth Estate's popular culture editor. Meanwhile, Benn Dunn, most recently in that same Fourth Estate hot seat, has switched to Hodder to replace Davies. "It's one big merry-go-round," he observes.
His Canongate brief, drawn up by Byng and editorial director Anya Serota, is to make the independent as renowned for its non-fiction as it is for its fiction. "At the moment it would be a surprise to see a Canongate book on the Samuel Johnson Prize shortlist," Davies says. "But we need to be hitting the prize lists with the same frequency as we do with our novels. It's a chance to make a difference."
He is looking for 15-20 books a year, from the "silly to the serious", across areas including humour, biography, memoir, true crime, travel, popular science and "big ideas" books. The defining thread will be the "strength of the author's voice". His early buys have been Victoria Coren's poker playing tale For Richer For Poorer, a book by a Médecins San Frontièrs doctor, and a self-published comedy cricket/travel memoir.
The first two went Davies' way despite the fact he was the underbidder in the auctions. He enjoyed this demonstration of the industry's "goodwill" towards his new employer, and is also relishing the chance to "roll up my sleeves" and be involved with its entire list.
He pays tribute to "non-corporate" Hodder, but he won't miss dealing with the celebrity projects. Brand's My Booky Wook took many months of toing and froing, including a spa hotel weekend with the star himself, and then a final push to convince Brand to overcome last-minute doubts about going into print. "It was pretty exhausting," he says. "Russell and Billie were both charming, but I'm not sure if my skin was thick enough to deal with all the crap from celebrity agents."
