Polly pattullo biography of christopher lee

Polly Pattullo is the cofounder of Papillote Press, a small publishing house based in Dominica and in London. Located in the Eastern Caribbean between Martinique and Guadeloupe, Dominica is known as the Nature Isle because of its abundant and largely unspoilt natural beauty. In addition to being a publisher, Polly is a published author and a journalist who worked for many years with the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

Her books include Last Resorts: the Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean , a critical assessment of the economic, environmental and cultural impacts of tourism development in the region. I had the pleasure of interviewing Polly via email during which she spoke about her experiences as a publisher and the challenges Papillote Press faces in trying to win an audience for its writers.

After that I realised that if I could publish one book, I could probably publish another. I also thought that there were many stories waiting to be told in Dominica. Polly: Not particularly, in terms of the practicalities. Papillote Press only exists by being an unpaid one-woman operation and making sure that each book that is published generates enough cash to print the next book.

Delve deep into the lives,

Polly: Yes. I have a distributor, Central Books, and their sales reps go round taking orders, but I will be lucky to get many sales — the big chains may order a couple of copies and some independent bookshops, especially in areas where there is a Caribbean readership. I have my own database and sell directly too. Unless you pay the big retailers to give your book a high-profile positioning — as in on the front tables — your book will disappear onto the shelves and will only be discovered by the most hardcore of readers.

I have managed to get excellent publicity for my books — a major feature in the Guardian newspaper and on BBC Radio 4, for example, for Home Again: Stories of Migration and Return — but this has not dramatically increased sales. However, I live in hope that I will find the book which will do just that. I have no doubt that the Caribbean is a rich repository of potential bestsellers.

Have you done book launches in other islands besides Dominica?