Quercus is a relative minnow in the world of publishing. But it is linked to two of the biggest names in the British book business. The chairman until recently was Anthony Cheetham, co-founder of two publishing empires - Orion and what became Random House. Many of Quercus’s authors are clients of Georgina Capel, one of the leading literary agents in London.
As it happens, Mr Cheetham and Ms Capel are married - as investors in Quercus, which is quoted on the junior Plus Market, will know thanks to a note in its recent accounts.
This states that Quercus spent £473,866 in 2008 (up from £388,737 the year before) with Capel & Land. “This supplier is a related party, as Georgina Capel, one of the co-owners of the agency, is the wife of Anthony Cheetham. To date, payments made under the contracts by the group have totalled £1,011,986.”
For a company with sales of only £10.9million last year, these are significant sums. Quercus was set up with the idea of finding new or overlooked talent and it originally had a rule that it would not pay more than £40,000 in advances. Yet some of Ms Capel’s high-profile authors, such as Dame Stella Rimington, former MI5 head, received more than £100,000.
Quercus, whose chief executive, Mark Smith, worked at Orion, went through a very bad patch at the end of last year and in November raised £1.6 million from investors. But trading has picked up recently and Quercus is expected to be back in profit this year.
Advertisement
Mr Cheetham, who stepped down as an executive in November and quit entirely in February, is now involved in a new publishing venture. It will be interesting to see if any of Ms Capel’s authors also move.