When did you take leave of your senses and decide to start a small publishing press?

It was in 1994. I had been working in the music business since leaving school and I'd decided to start up a record label, but all my friends seemed to have one of those so a book publishing company looked like a novel idea. I also thought that if I could just introduce a few of the marketing strategies of the music industry I'd make a killing... The conservative-minded, major publisher-centred British publishing industry soon knocked the stuffing out of that idea!

What was your background?

I did a law degree at college but was chucked out for spending too much time trying to write for the underground press, promoting rock gigs and student demos - it was that heady time of the early-1970s. After trying a few proper jobs I stumbled into the music industry, promoting gigs in London and acting as manager or agent for such as Wilko Johnson, Geno Washington, John Cooper Clarke, Wreckless Eric, The Pogues, and a whole host of anarcho-punk bands. I packed that in, drifted back into music journalism and spent five years writing about blues, roots and rock 'n' roll for Time Out in London. Then I had this brainwave... (see previous answer)

Still working a day job?

Only part-time. I still review pubs, Indian restaurants and crime fiction for Time Out and write occasional long articles for the quality dailies and Sundays. Oh, and I've recently started putting on gigs again at London's 100 Club in Oxford Street. Although it's more of a hobby, it's so far proving more lucrative than publishing!

Early days: the biggest mistake?

Accepting that you can't change anything and that you have to toe the line laid down by the publishing establishment. It took a few years to realise that you've got to keep at it, keep pushing the boundaries and eventually that drip, drip will break open that rock for you. The entire industry in Britain from the big publishers and the media to chain booksellers and even smaller bookshops is geared towards edging out the independent publisher. We are an irritation. All everybody wants to do is publish and sell some blockbuster about Princess Diana or some mindless TV tie-in and we keep fucking up the system by bringing out books everyone knows will never sell a million. They can't understand why we do it. Nor can I sometimes...

Best moment?

Every time I get a book from an author I really admire I can't wait to get stuck in. At heart I'm still a fan of the books and authors we publish.

What was the first book you published and how well did it do?

Rock Talk was my excuse to get into publishing and it was a collection of writing by various music journalists and musicians of my acquaintance. I did everything myself, from editing to lay-out to distribution to sales and it sold (in retrospect) a very healthy 2,500.

Funding, does it exist?

A little but for big projects like websites and specified (bullshit) promotions.

What type of books do you look for?

Good ones, though we are lucky at the moment in that we have a pretty busy schedule so we're not actually looking for anything new.

What are you providing the big publishers don't?

Good books that we know won't sell a million. We are in the process of negotiating for a book by one of Britain's premier noir authors (recently interviewed in CF!) that's been turned down by every major publisher in Britain on the grounds of being too bleak. What kind of an excuse is that for turning down a crime book? Crime is bleak. We're also publishing a novel next year (Judas Pig by 'Horace Silver') written by a reformed gangster and the underlying message and mood of it is that people get hurt and pain isn't ideal tea time entertainment for the masses. In our books I like to think that the body in the library isn't just some faceless character out of central casting, it's someone who lived, loved and died in great pain.

Most satisfying part of the job?

Looking at a book by, say, Ken Bruen or John B Spencer and knowing that I played a small part in making it available to the public.

The slush pile, what are you looking for and how do you manage it (the pile)

For a small publisher the slush pile is a curse. At any one time there are probably three or four books (out of the hundreds that arrive) that we could publish if we could afford to... Problem is, we can't. And even if we did debut novels first-time authors, from independent publishers, are seen, by booksellers, as about as saleable as pork chops in Tel Aviv.

Does it ever get easier, are the personal sacrifices worth it?

There's always light at the end of the tunnel. After nine years I'm still optimistic.

Any financial reward, when did you make your first million?

The Do-Not Press has never made money two years in a row. But that's just about to change... •
www.thednotpress.com