19 June 2019

Orphans Publishing showcase new book

Orphans Press based in Leominster, was originally founded in 1873 by Quaker philanthropist Henry Newman. Originally a greengrocer, he made it his mission to find a home for orphaned children. Henry quickly realised that he required a long-term way to fund the home, but also that the children needed to learn a trade if they were to go on and live successful lives after they left their care.

The company went into publishing in 2015 with the Elizabeth Fry biography, a personal favourite of current Co-Director Helen Bowden. Their latest publishing foray sees Andy Griffee, the author of 'Canal Pushers' - who originally knew Orphans Press as a printer first and foremost after they produced a charity book for a school for him, will now be signing his latest book at Waterstones on Wednesday 26 June.

Helen said, "Andy liked our professionalism and was keen to work with us when another publisher mentioned our name. We in turn loved his book and it felt right for us - we're enjoying the move into fiction but it's a tough market to crack in terms of reviews. We're a small Indie publisher with an unknown author so we have to work hard to get noticed.

"In terms of production we do all the design and typesetting in house and we design and print the dust jackets, we also produce our own supporting marketing material, social media activity and publicity. Oh and we have some keen bean print staff who were early readers of the book and helped steer the cover design!"

Dawn Reid, Regional Director for BPIF for the area added, "I run the Books Special Interest Group for the BPIF so being asked to attend this event - and hopefully getting myself a signed copy - is a great privilege. Andy is a great author and because he's an ex journalist and ex BBC he has been great at generating his own publicity which really helps the smaller publisher."

For further information on both the BPIF Books Group and the event itself please see:

https://www.britishprint.com/membership-services/sigs/book-production/

https://www.waterstones.com/events/an-evening-with-andy-griffee-and-anita-bhalla/birmingham