This is the year when eight friends and I will be having a joint 10th birthday celebration. I am, as you might surmise, just a little bit older than that myself. So I had better explain that I am referring to the anniversary of the co-operative publisher of which we are the nine members.
Gritstone Publishing, born in 2016, is still the only example in the UK of an author-run co-operative publisher. The commercial publishing industry has changed enormously in recent years to become much more marketing-led, and in the process, it has been authors who have tended to suffer. The Society of Authors’ (SoA) most recent survey of authors’ incomes, carried out three years ago, is a sobering read. Average (median) earnings were just £7,000 a year, down from the 2006 median of £12,330. As the SoA points out, when inflation is factored in, this represents a fall in real terms for authors of over 60%. Yes, it can be tough being a professional writer.
How it all began
Gritstone was set up by four of us, authors based in Yorkshire and the Peak District, to see if we could assert more control over how our books are brought to market – and, when our books found their readers, whether we could benefit a little more from the resulting income than we would through traditional publishers’ royalties. Since then, the co-operative has gradually grown until we now have nine member-authors.
Gritstone is what is known technically as a fully mutual co-operative. This means among other things that it is controlled collectively by the nine members and that it is restricted to bringing out books written by co-op members. We discuss and agree proposed new titles for the imprint together. Book distribution to the book trade, including bookshops and online retailers, is handled by a mainstream trade distributor, but our titles are also sold directly from the Gritstone website.
A strong sense of place
As the Gritstone name might suggest, we are strongly rooted in a sense of place, with a particular focus on the north of England. Six of the nine of us are Yorkshire-based, with our remaining members in the Peak District and north Wales. We focus on publishing books about the countryside and outdoors, about land and landscape, and about nature conservation, as well as a small number of social history titles. We also publish fiction, again strongly northern-based.
We’re marking our 10th birthday by bringing out, this summer, the final two volumes to complete a comprehensive set of guidebooks to the new ‘King Charles III’ English Coastal Path, the longest and most ambitious of the country’s long-distance national trails. The author is one of our founder members, writer and cartographer Chris Goddard, who has walked every inch of the coast path in researching the books. The 2026 titles, on the Northern and Eastern sections of the path, will join the South and South-West volumes already published, completing what are the only guides to walkers currently available for the new route.
Our new recruit
The most recent author to join Gritstone is Mike Raine, a mountaineering instructor and author of the leading handbook on mountain craft. His book Just One More Hill, an informative and entertaining account of the growing popularity of ‘bikepacking’ (cycle touring), is another 2026 publication, as are fellow Gritstone member Eileen Jones’ tribute to William Wordsworth’s home, Rydal Mount in the Lake District, where the poet lived for most of his life, and a newly revised edition of The Long Spring by conservationist and former RSPB Director for Northern England Laurence Rose. The Long Spring was described by The Spectator when it was first published in 2018 as an “inspiring, eye-opening read”.
Also among us are the veteran countryside writer, activist and frequent Yorkshire Bylines contributor, Colin Speakman (the instigator of the Dales Way trail), national parks campaigner Andrew McCloy, Yorkshire novelist Mike Padgett, author of walkers’ and cyclists’ guides Chiz Dakin, and me.
How we operate
Gritstone takes as its model the long-established concept of marketing co-operatives as used, for example, by farmers and wine producers in many countries, to collectively sell their produce. But Gritstone isn’t just about collective marketing or a collective brand. What we’ve found particularly rewarding has been the strong sense of solidarity which has developed between all of the co-op members. Writing can be a solitary occupation, but Gritstone helps overcome this. We take a keen interest in each other’s work and we support each other through the publishing process.
We wondered when we started if our approach could be made to work. Now, after 10 years, we can categorically assert that the Gritstone model does indeed work. We’re just a little surprised that, over this period, no other author-run co-operative has emerged to join us (we’ll be happy to offer advice if we get approaches!).
For more information contact us at gritstonecoop@gmail.com.
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