Publishing

by Tariq Goddard

Novelist and publisher Tariq Goddard reflects on thirty years of experience in the industry to explore the innate value of writing and how presses can stay true to their core mission of bringing great books into readers’ hands.

Throughout his career as a writer and a publisher, Tariq Goddard has pushed the envelope and created intellectual and artistic community. In Publishing, Goddard reflects on the three essential practices that have enabled him to persist in a difficult industry—reading, writing, and wondering—and offers motivation, inspiration, and justification for an inherently unpredictable and insecure livelihood. Goddard recounts the creation, rise, and cessation of his own presses, Zer0 and Repeater Books, to offer insight into the challenges of sustaining independent publishing houses. He draws from his experience on both sides of the editor’s desk to describe the differences between writing a novel and editing one as well as how time in each role has continuously informed the other. Publishing provides a critique of the publishing industry and an insider’s view of the tension between commerce and creativity.

110 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 16, 2027

About the author

Tariq Goddard was born in London in 1975. He read Philosophy at King’s College London. His first three novels were shortlisted for various awards including Whitbread (Costa) First Novel Award, Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. His fourth and fifth books won the Independent Publishers Gold medal for Horror Writing and Silver medal for Literary Fiction respectively. He lives on a farm in Wiltshire with his wife and children.