CPI has delivered a 25,000 copy reprint of Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, less than 48 hours after the title won the prestigious Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.
The reprint of the B format paperback began within minutes of the prize announcement, which took place at London's South Bank Centre on Wednesday evening. Printing plates for the newly revised cover design, featuring the winner flash, were output immediately at CPI White Quill. Cover printing, matt laminating, spot UV varnishing and a newly introduced embossing continued through the night into Thursday.
The text sections were printed on a Timson ZMR B press at CPI Books in Chatham yesterday, with binding taking place in the early hours. Deliveries were completed earlier today.
Judith Gates, Production Director at Faber and Faber, thanked CPI for its responsiveness in turning around the reprint with such speed to meet the anticipated demand. "We are all very pleased for Eimear, it was a long road for her and a well deserved reward. We hope to reach a wide audience with this title and the boost of the prize publicity and a timely reprint will all help to do that."
Sales of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing are expected to be significant following the win, with the publisher launching a publicity campaign embracing broadsheet newspapers, outdoor advertising and social media, supported by heavy PR activity including television interviews. The book is also to feature in the Elle Bookclub.
CPI had presses standing by for four of the six shortlisted titles in this year's competition. It also printed Burial Rites (Picador), The Lowland (Bloomsbury) and The Undertaking (Atlantic).
The premier prize for women's fiction writing was previously known as the Orange Prize and is sponsored for the first time this year by Baileys.
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