Indie publishers gear up for International Crime Month

25.06.14 | Caroline Carpenter - The Bookseller

Four independent UK publishers—Melville House UK, Europa Editions, No Exit Press, and Serpent’s Tail—have joined forces to launch an International Crime Month.

International Crime Month will be a month-long initiative running throughout July 2014 that will celebrate the genre and feature crime fiction authors, editors, critics, and publishers.

The initiative will highlight new titles from No Exit Press, Melville House UK’s International Crime series, Europa’s World Noir imprint, and Serpent’s Tail’s crime fiction. There will be one author from each publisher in focus: Europa Editions’ Mallock; Melville House UK’s Wolf Haas; Serpent’s Tail’s Adrian McKinty; and No Exit Press’ Barry Forshaw.

Melville House UK managing director Zeljka Marosevic said: “It made a lot of sense to come together and highlight international crime. As publishers we all share this interest and commitment, and in some cases we even share authors. I hope the month will offer readers something a bit quirkier for their summer reads—think of the books as alternative travel guides.”

The initiative will kick-off with an event at Waterstones’s flagship store in Piccadilly, London on Wednesday 9th July. Authors Mallock and Adrian McKinty will discuss their writing with crime fiction authority and author of Euro Noir (Pocket Essentials), Barry Forshaw. They will be joined by Pete Ayrton, who founded Serpent’s Tail to publish fiction in translation, and will provide a publisher’s perspective at the event.

Hannah Westland, publisher of Serpent’s Tail, said: “We are delighted to be offering readers something different alongside our fellow indie publishers. I’d much rather spend my holidays reading any one of these dark, brilliant masters of the crime genre and look forward to the events and conversations that International Crime Month will spark.”

There will be a host of digital marketing initiatives throughout the month across the four publishers’ digital platforms and posters will be available to bookshops for displays and promotions. Independent bookshops are encouraged to contact Zeljka Marosevic (zm@mhpbooks.com) to request a poster.