Colin Midson - Publicist

London, United Kingdom

A seasoned publicist and editor with nearly 20 years experience working in the UK book trade, and an established literary event programmer.

Reedsy profile URL

Reedsy profile URL https://reedsy.com/midson-colin

Overview

I am a freelance publicist with nearly 15 years working in the book trade - at Bloomsbury and Simon & Schuster - and then another 5 years for my own PR, publishing and book events company, Bookshaped. I have worked with literary novelists ranging from William Boyd to Eleanor Catton and Jeffrey Eugenides, as well as big-name non-fiction authors like Gloria Steinem, William Dalrymple, Heston Blumenthal and Buzz Aldrin.

Services

Press Coverage

Non-Fiction

Biographies & Memoirs

Cooking & Food Wine & Spirits

History

Nature

Sports & outdoor recreation

Travel

Fiction

Literature

Works with

Wix

Work experience

Director

Self-employed

January, 2012 – Present (over 6 years)

I launched my own PR, publishing and events company, Bookshaped, in 2012 and have since worked with a wide range of authors, most notably Eleanor Catton, author of The Luminaries - winner of the MAN Booker prize in 2013 - and Gloria Steinem for her memoir My Life on the Road. I am also Associate Director of the Port Eliot Festival, a multi-arts festival held in South East Cornwall each summer.

Commissioning Editor, Non ficton

Simon & Schuster

January, 2010 – January, 2012 (about 2 years)

In 2010 I joined Simon and Schuster as an editor on the non-fiction list, commissioning books from Jeremy Vine to Billy Idol, as well as the CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning Killer of Little Shepherds, by Douglas Starr, and Tom Fort's bestselling travel title, The A303, Highway to the Sun.

Publicity Director

Bloomsbury

August, 1998 – December, 2009 (over 11 years)

Having started out as an assistant in the Bloomsbury publicity department just as the Harry Potter books started to gain traction, I was lucky enough to have been at the publisher for the next eleven years, during which time they published an extraordinary list. Over the years I progressed to the role of Publicity Director and, along the way represented novelists such as Khaled Hosseini, John Irving, Nadine Gordimer, and William Boyd, and non-fiction authors covering a wide range of genres - from Kate Summerscale, to Heston Blumenthal, Buzz Aldrin, AC Grayling and William Dalrymple.

Projects

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

This was a real privilege. I was brought in to to work on Eleanor Catton's book in August 2013 just as it was long-listed for the Booker Prize. Over the course of the next 2 months set off on a nationwide tour, taking in Edinburgh Festival, Cheltenham, London - even Berlin - with a wall-to-wall interview schedule for broadcast and print media. The night of the Booker Prize giving was an extraordinary culmination of a lot of work. She returned for the paperback the following summer and we continued at fever pitch.

The A303 - Highway to the Sun

This was a real pleasure and a rare experience - overseeing a publishing project from start to the very finish. In my capacity as a commissioning editor at Simon & Schuster I brought the idea of a book about the 303 to the editorial table and swiftly found Tom Fort, an author at a loose end. I oversaw the editorial process - working with Tom on the text, commissioning the jacket design, writing cover copy, and even drawing the maps - before leaving S&S to set up Bookshaped. I then publicised the book, securing blanket review coverage and features across the national press, broadcast interviews on Chris Evans Breakfast Show, and on Radio 4 and across the West Country. Plus, of course, the BBC commissioned a one off documentary on the back of the book...

My Life on the Road, by Gloria Steinem

Another great opportunity planning the tour and chaperoning Gloria Steinem as we promoted the hardback of her memoir. This involved the scheduling of a comprehensive UK book tour taking in events at the the Emmanuel Centre for the How To Academy in London, at the Cambridge Book Festival, Oxford Union, Bath Festival, Port Eliot Festival and West Cork. Interviews were secured across the media but most notably on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, BBC Newsnight, BBC Breakfast, the Guardian, and Daily Mail.

Ordinary Thunderstorms

UK Trade campaign for first publication of William Boyd's 2009 novel.
Interviews in broadsheet and weekly media including The New Statesman and Sunday Times.
Broadcast interviews on BBC Radio 4 Open Book. BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. Reviews across longlead publications and broadsheet and tabloid media.

William Boyd said of the campaign: "Colin Midson did a sensational job on Ordinary Thunderstorms. It was the most impressive trans-media publicity blitz I've ever experienced in the UK"

Portfolio (18 selected works)

Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon

Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin, one of the three men who took part in the first moon landing in 1969, is a true American hero. This title begins with the story of his voyage into space, which came within seconds of failure, and reveals an insider's view of the American space programme.

Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 (Tales of a New Jerusalem)

David Kynaston

[ AUSTERITY BRITAIN, 1945-1951 BY KYNASTON, DAVID](AUTHOR)PAPERBACK

River Cottage Every Day

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

The most accessible, recipe-led River Cottage book yet, with 200 fantastic new recipes that present Hugh's philosophy to his widest audience so far

The River Cottage Fish Book

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Nick Fisher

More than just a cookbook, this beautifully produced volume in three parts promotes a total understanding of British fish, from their natural habitats to what sauce they go best and how to respect their sustainability, in keeping with the River Cottage ethos. The first part is dedicated to understanding fish - Hugh and Nick explain the ins and outs of procuring a good fish, discussing fish far... read more

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

A riveting and powerful story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship and an indestructible love

The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961 - 9 November 1989

Frederick Taylor

Edition Bloomsbury, First Impression, 2006. ISBN: 0-7475-8015-4. HARDBACK. 511 pages, size: 16 x 24.2 x 4.4 cm. Just light tan to paper edges. Other than that, the new and unread book remains in excellent condition: dust cover intact; black cloth hard cover bright with gilt lettering on spine; text all clean, neat and tight. Prompt dispatch from UK.

Schott's Original Miscellany

Ben Schott

Schott's Original Miscellany

Rising Ground: A Search for the Spirit of Place

Philip Marsden

Why do we react so strongly to certain places? Why do layers of mythology build up around particular features in the landscape? When Philip Marsden moved to a remote creekside farmhouse in Cornwall, the intensity of his response took him aback. It led him to begin exploring these questions, prompting a journey westwards to Land's End through one of the most fascinating regions of Europe. From ... read more

Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad's Green Zone

Rajiv Chandrasekaran

From inside a surreal bubble of pure Americana known as the Green Zone, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority attempted to rule Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. This work tells the story of this ill-prepared attempt to build American democracy in a war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Ambition

Julie Burchill

'I'm sick of breaking bimbos - it's no fun, no challenge. Strong, hard career girls - they're the new filet mignon of females. Girls like you. Oh, I'm going to have fun breaking you, Susan.' Tobias Pope ruled his communications empire with fear and loathing - his employees feared him and he loathed them. But he may have met his match in Susan Street, the young, beautiful and nakedly ambitious ... read more