A new route for author
Even the most revered authors held down day jobs, from TS Eliot’s time at Lloyd’s to Walt Whitman’s stint as a government clerk. Now a “successful hedge fund with a passion for literature” is offering wannabe novelists the chance to turn literature itself into the nine to five, by offering a salary to its writers.
De Montfort Literature, a new publishing company that is part of London hedge fund De Montfort Capital, is offering a £24,000 starting salary to writers who pass its selection process, which includes an algorithm that is “designed to identify career novelists”, psychometric tests and interviews. With up to 10 places initially available, De Montfort will also offer mentors and editors to provide advice and support, as well as designing, promoting and publishing the work. Authors would receive 50% of profits.
Founder and author Jonathan de Montfort said that “holding down a full-time job is not conducive to writing fiction. So, it occurred to me, if we pay a salary that allows writing to become a full-time occupation, then we should free up lots of talented authors.”
He added: “The traditional publishing models for fiction writers are littered with obstacles. Securing a literary agent is a lottery, and self-publishing is costly and time-consuming. These routes also lend themselves to the affluent, who can afford mentoring, education, copy editors and proof readers. Our model is more accessible and de-risks the process.”
De Montfort acknowledged that his proposed method of finding authors using tests and an algorithm may sound “a little sinister” to some, but said he believed it was fairer than traditional publishing methods. “The algorithm is oblivious to your background, culture, wealth, race or gender. There’s no bias – it only cares that you have what it takes to be a top-selling novelist.”
The publisher’s website says that while traditional publishers “can pick and choose the best manuscripts they have without having to pay anything for them”, writers “have to do all the work, take all the risk and then hope their manuscript gets accepted. De Montfort Literature is backed by a hedge fund, so it has more money at its disposal to invest in authors”.
“I really believe there are lots of great authors out there frustrated by the existing routes to market,” said De Montfort. “We are offering a genuine alternative. We are prepared to invest in authors over a long period of time – five to 10 years, if necessary – with our expectation of return at the end of that period, once they become established.”
The Society of Authors’ director Nicola Solomon said the writers’ organisation was “always happy to see new publishing models that give choice to authors. A salary of £24,000 a year for writing novels would probably be attractive to any new writer and is more than the advances that many would receive in traditional publishing.”
But she expressed concern about aspects of the company, including De Montfort’s intention to share copyright with an author, to claim copyright in “ideas”, not just the work, as well as the requirement for an author not to write for another publisher for two years after leaving De Montfort.
She saidDe Montfort had been in touch with the society about working with the organisation to offer better terms and conditions. “I am hopeful that we can help them improve the model,” said Solomon.
“De Montfort Literature is risking capital on this project and obviously we want to see a return,” the hedge-fund founder said. “My ambition is to build a stable of bestselling novelists. We will not achieve this by exploiting authors. It is a partnership and we want to make it work for everyone involved.”
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