Five go printing
What happens on tour ends up in the newsletter
February events at Backstory
Book your tickets now
Friday 3rd February, 7pm
Screening of new BBC documentary followed by Q&A with its award-winning creatives
Wednesday 15th February, 7.30pm
Author of The New Life, one of the hottest debuts of 2023, about forbidden love in Victorian London
SOLD OUT: David Nicholls
Wednesday 22nd February, 7.30pm
An evening with the bestselling author of One Day, Us & Sweet Sorrow
Saturday 25th February, 7pm
An evening of music with one of the UK’s most exciting up-and-coming jazz singer-songwriters
Team pick of the week
Tom recommends: The New Life by Tom Crewe
I loved this debut novel about two unconventional Victorian marriages and two men grappling with how to live differently on the cusp of a new century.
The Wolfenden report half a century later and the decriminalisation of male homosexuality that eventually followed are well trodden creatively. The New Life is a fascinating exploration of “Greek love” and what it meant to be “an invert” before there was any widespread movement for what would come to be called gay rights.
Explicitly erotic in parts, thought-provoking in others, always beautifully written, it will appeal to fans of Alan Hollinghurst. I’m thrilled that Tom Crewe, its author, is doing an event at Backstory next month - Tom
Our bestsellers this week
Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott (next month’s Backstory book club choice)
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
Foster by Claire Keegan
The New Life by Tom Crewe
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan
Send Nudes by Saba Sams
Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell
I THINK I’VE FOUND HEAVEN, and it’s in Croydon. Past an electricity sub-station, a used car dealership and a chicken joint lurks a bookseller’s Disneyland, a sort of theme park for the incurably mild-mannered. It’s called CPI Books and I can tell you I enjoyed it more than any number of rollercoasters (though this may have something to do with once losing my glasses on a loop-the-loop).
It may surprise you to learn that the vast majority of books sold in Britain are still proudly manufactured in Britain. There are two big players: Clays and CPI. The latter prints most of the books for HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber and many others. If you’ve read a Harry Potter or an Ishiguro or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, your book started its journey right there in Croydon. CPI alone prints 110 million books a year.
You can imagine, then, that I was delighted, as well as very grateful, when I found out that its boss, Tanya Dunbar, was one of our very generous crowdfunders. And I was even happier when she invited the whole Backstory team to spend a day behind the scenes. What could be better for a bit of bookish bonding? And paintballing was fully-booked.
So we shut up shop on Friday (sorry about that, we won’t make a habit of it) and the five of us - Steph, Denise, Amy, Rory and me - went printing, first at the Croydon plant and then at an even more sprawling site in Chatham, Kent.
I would try to describe the process in detail, but I have to confess that, though it sort of made sense at the time, I am left with an excitable kid-in-a-big-factory impression of smells, noises and an overwhelming giddiness (there was an acid bath?!?! There was a room where they manually spray-paint the edges of books that they honestly call the Chamber of Secrets! Books are printed in twos and then cut in half at the end?!) more than a comprehensive understanding of the technicalities. Rory’s Instagram reel captures this feeling well.
I am on safer ground recounting the team’s reactions. Wide-eyed glee crossing a platform between two walls of paper cascading down from one of the presses, forming a waterfall of words. Exclamations of joy spotting an enormous pile of one of our favourite authors’ new covers. School-trip sniggers passing a sign sternly instructing: “bottoms need trimming”.
For me, Friday was great for two reasons. First, and forgive my not very concealed inner Richard Curtis, it was a rare joy to have the whole team together. Like any dedicated boss, I read our Google reviews and it makes me very happy how often reviewers comment on the atmosphere and rapport between the booksellers. That stuff is hard to fake. I’m very fortunate to have hired people who give every impression of enjoying spending time with each other.
Just as importantly, it has given me another way of thinking about the books that we sell. It is safe to say that most writers are not exactly reticent about recounting the effort - the pain - that goes into their work. But we hear less about the rather more literal sweat that goes into making books books.
So next time I’m unboxing a new title I will think of the printer who speed read every 12th set of pages to make sure they were coming off the press in the right order. I’ll remember how the printing team spent hours perfecting the right colour for the cover, saving it for next time (we saw pots of Sarah J Maas Special Grey and David Walliams Proof Green). And I’ll never look at a sprayed edge without recalling the effort - and the patience - that went into each one.
So there you have it, yet another reason to buy and to treasure physical books. It’s one area of British manufacturing, of craftsmanship, that is thriving.
Thanks so much to Tanya, Jamie and Justin for a grand day out.
Until next time,
Tom
I’m a graphic designer and none of us really understand the print process either.. (Okay maybe a little bit!) awesome to see it though, I’m quite jealous.
Awesome process!