Martin Malone on setting up Owl Fella’s Press after decades as a published author
A question often put to me these days is why I decided to establish a not-for-profit publishing press. It’s not a question easily addressed. 40 years in the writing world has taught me much—good, bad, and in-between. So this is what I call a bear with me please answer.
My writing career began when I was 13, scripting short stories, an avid reader then as now. Then I fell in love with sport, won a few county titles for cross-country, and played a lot of soccer, which I enjoyed. Sport has a best before date, and I returned to writing when I was 32. For the next 8 years BBC Radio, BBC World Service and RTÉ Radio 1 broadcast my short stories. I featured on the shortlist for 2 Hennessy Awards and won a few competitions.
Finding an agent and a publisher
My army career and part-time work didn’t permit a long engagement with a novel. This changed in the year before I left the force, when I found an agent, Faith O’Grady, and a publisher, Poolbeg Press, managed by the avuncular Philip McDermott, a writer’s publisher in the same way a high-ranking officer might be a soldier’s soldier. Suffice to say there are few who possess those fine credentials.
Did I want to wait on a promised call that looked like running into a 2-year call-back?
Us went on to win the Sunday Independent/John B Keane Literary Bursary of £5,000, equal to the sum won by the winner of the Kerry Ingredient Irish Fiction Award, for which the novel was also shortlisted. Money is mentioned here because it needs to be. My second book After Kafra was cancelled by Poolbeg, for reasons of some dispute with the Arts Council – but a week afterwards I was informed that the book was already in print! This book went on to be optioned by RTÉ and kicked in at €12,500.
26 years later, with titles published by a variety of publishers in the UK and Ireland, here’s the beef. With a mill of competitions won and lost, successes and disappointments, the pandemic brought matters to a close. Did I want at my age to be waiting for a response to a title with a best-sale in the period of 2022—a Civil War non-fiction title? Did I want to wait on a promised call that looked like running into a 2-year call-back? After expressing frustration that not a modicum of respect was paid to the writer, the publisher wished me well. In truth, this had been some time in coming; two of my/their/now mine again titles clocked in at €20.10 and €22.10 in Eason’s in 2013 and 2017: expensive paperbacks.
Owl Fella’s Press
So, an idea blossomed. My wife Valerie and I established Owl Fella’s Press, in the first instance to provide an opportunity for elderly male writers—subsequently maturing to include any person over 60. To date we have brought out three titles: Iapetus ’81, a novel; The Newbridge Connection, the India Mutiny 1920, a booklet; and a short story collection In the White Country, novella and stories, tales of south Lebanon, all endorsed with Arts grant aid logos. Our hope now is to bring forward an anthology of short stories by writers both published and unpublished, who meet the submission criteria.
Let’s talk the hard talk.
A lot of time and effort went into making calls to shops up and down the country to take our books, and this proved fruitful. Out of 32 shops, we experienced only one which accepted the books but a week later rang to ask us to take them back…This particular title was well-received elsewhere and to date has sold 600 copies, not including a long list of libraries at home, in the UK, and the US.
The Arts Council of Ireland and Kildare County Arts Council Service have been hugely supportive
Our purchasers include Alan Hanna’s, Kennys, Charlie Byrnes, Books.ie, Khans, Books Centre Wexford, Books Kilkenny, Woodbines, Connolly’s, Farrell’s Bookshop, and others listed on our website. There are others also coming on board. We’ve been supported and treated kindly by everyone we approached, and for the most part paid upon request – which keeps the printer happy. The Arts Council of Ireland and Kildare County Arts Council Service have been hugely supportive. Winning a Kildare Artistic Entrepreneur Award in 2021 and a Decade of Commemorations Award 2022 were boosts to a fledgling publisher.
Breaking down the numbers
Our latest title cost €8 per copy from our printer. It sells for €15.00, of which booksellers take a percentage of between 25% to 40%. If we factor in the shop selling 10 copies, that’s €150 at 35%, of which we receive €97.50, that makes a total profit for us of €17.00, after we pay the printer. But. Hold on, we distributed nationwide…on day trips, driving, mainly…so we’re in the red.
Tellingly, why we need grant support, is that there is, obviously, no pay for the writer’s time and storytelling skill sets, or the administration involved. So, is this why a writer should retire? Or at least stop competing for shelf space? In that regard, we intend to stay small, and applications for grants and determinations there-of will probably mean either the death knell for Owl Fellas Press, or its survival.
Tellingly, why we need grant support, is that there is, obviously, no pay for the writer’s time and storytelling skill sets
One of our reverted titles was optioned by a UK film company (€2,000) and because our old publisher took down the eBook versions of our reverted titles, we’ve brought them out ourselves—with our own cover designs—and so they’re again available. We find Amazon a reliable tool for our books: the printing is cheaper which makes the books more affordable. But we prefer to support our Irish printer, to have a personal connection with them, so we’re not entirely won over by the conglomerate just yet…this A.I. thing, y’know…
One upside—boy, are we having some fun, meeting great people and getting to see the sights of this beautiful country, living up to our motto: Time for a few hoots.
