The year 2013 is undoubtedly turning into my husband’s lucky year. He has received a lot of positive write-ups in my blog recently. And today I owe him another thanks. Although the man clearly doesn’t know his ‘palate’ from his ‘pallet’, his weak proof-reading skills have revealed that Peirene’s newsletter is indeed read with huge interest world-wide.

On Thursday evening I asked him to proofread the April newsletter. He claimed he did, so on Friday I sent the e-mail into the wide world with the sentence ‘Our German Mussel Feast continues to excite the Anglo-Saxon pallet.’ I had a funny feeling about this newsletter but couldn’t put my finger on it. I didn’t have to wait long though. It took exactly five minutes and I received the first reply from a kind reader pointing out the typo. Since then there has been a steady stream.

I usually don’t get much response to the newsletter, one or two emails at most. So this is very exciting. People do indeed read our news carefully. I am thrilled, not least because they will now  all know about the forthcoming first ever Peirene novella-writing masterclass.

The masterclass was Peirene’s idea.  ‘If Faber and The Guardian can do it, we can do it too.’ She announced a few weeks ago. ‘And besides, no one offers novella writing classes. Aren’t we the experts in this genre? Let’s do it.’ I hesitated, worried from the beginning about the marketing. Would we get the word out to enough people? But The Nymph had no qualms.  ‘Who wouldn’t want to be taught by an ancient Greek Nymph.’ And when she found an experienced tutor, Shelley Weiner, who teaches for The Guardian …I was persuaded.

Since then we have printed and distributed flyers at places with the right target audience. We have contacted institutions and people who might help us to spread the word.  We have spoken to friends and sought advice. But after a gratifying initial rush we still have a few places remaining and, currently no new takers. Peirene remains full of confidence.  ‘Don’t you worry,’ she pats my hand. ‘We still have a few weeks to go until the 18^th of May.’  She pauses, then adds: ‘And let me do my part to promote the course: I will give up my Saturday morning on the 18^th of May in order to welcome each course participant personally.’

What an amazing kind Nymph- offer. So, dear readers, help to spread the word and mention the masterclass to friends, colleague and relatives. This is your unique chance for an inspirational encounter with an Ancient Greek Nymph.

It’s lovely to have a female author on our list again. It’s been a while. In fact, from the eight Peirene authors so far published, only three arewomen. Veronique Olmi and Maria Barbal in 2010 and now Pia Juul.

Pia is Danish. She has won numerous prizes for her five poetry collections, has written award-winning short story collections and plays. She is a member of the prestigious Danish Academy and has translated Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Ali Smith into Danish. And in 2009 she published her second novel, Mordet pa Halland, for which she won the Danske Bank Litteraturpris.

The Murder of Halland will be in UK bookshops in June. But our susbscribers received the book two weeks ago, on a Friday. By Monday, the first reader reactions arrived via twitter and email. “Brilliant”,“gripping”. My top reaction is this: “What a treat this is – I am going to read it again before the salon. This book had me texting back and forth with a friend who is also a Peirene subscriber the night I finished and then had to wait for him to finish and we were going on and on – I think that is a sign of a very good and provoking book!”

At a drinks party during the London Bookfair, I met a Danish publisher (not Pia’s). I told him that I am very much looking forward to the publication of Peirene’s first Danish crime novella. He looked at me horrified: “Does Pia know you market her book as crime fiction?” I calmed him down. Pia is delighted. We had spoken about it in February when I met her in Copenhagen.

Last Wednesday, Pia came to London for the European Literature Night 2012 to be interviewed by BBC journalist Rosie Goldsmith. Pia hit the stage with the claim ‘this is not a crime novel’ and then spent the rest of the interview dropping hints about how much she knew about crime fiction. She had the audience in stitches and when she finally read an extract you could have heard a needle drop.

“I figured Pia’s clever and a great writer,” Peirene said the next day. “But I didn’t realize how witty she can be. What a thrill to have finally a woman with a good sense of humour on board.”

“What do you mean “finally”?  I wanted to know.

“Well, you often lack humour.”

“No, I don’t.” I felt hurt. “To work with you needs a fair amount of humour, I can tell you that much.”

“There! I’ve proven my point, you’re having a sense of humour failure right this very moment.” Peirene grinned at me. “I am really looking forward to Pia’s events in June. Some good fun at last.”

P.S The photo shows Agatha Christie at her desk with her crime novels.

“I don’t like the Man Series. I mean the name.” The  Nymph has complained for a while.

I admit. The Man Series is a hard sell. Our most difficult to date. Maddy and I experience resistance each time we promote the books at the Roaming Stall.

We point to Peirene No 1-3: “This is our series of the Female Voice – women and their inner realities.” We don’t have to say more. Eyes – from female and male readers – light up, the deal is done.

Our Small Epic series works similar magic. “A family saga about secrets and sexual tensions, a Danish literary crime thriller.” We sell subscriptions even at the stall. People are happy to hand over their hard-earned money in return for future books.

And then there is the Man Series. We’ve tried various selling techniques. “Men and their struggles with love and life.” “Our series of Masculinity – male authors, male protagonists.” “Everything you ever wanted to know about men.” A lame smile is the most positive response we tend to get from men and women alike. Then they point to the Female Voice series: “We’ll take those three.”

“I don’t understand.” I put my head in my hands in despair. “The books are just as well written, as fascinating as all the others. Next World Novella and Maybe This Time were among Guardian’s paperbacks of 2011. Next World Novella has now been long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. And, especially women, once they’ve finally read these books, vote Next World Novella as their best Peirene yet. But, blimey, what a struggle to get people to pick up these titles in the first place.”

“You haven’t nailed the name.” The Nymph looked at me with little sympathy. “It’s all in the name. ‘Man Series’ just sounds a total bore. It doesn’t offer anything to the imagination.”

Last week we held an emergency meeting at the kitchen table at Peirene HQ: Maddy and myself, the Italian illustrator Giulia, our current intern Yasmine and the Nymph. Sacha was on the other end of the telephone line.

The male protagonists in all three stories face moral dilemmas. Ultimately they all want the same: intimacy and a loving relationship. But they struggle to get it, or keep it. And, unlike the female characters in the first three books, the men project their reflections onto the outside world. They don’t hold on them internally.

‘Male Dilemma.’ We agreed. A nice contradiction in terms. We now needed a tag line. ‘Male Dilemma – Quests for Intimacy.’ ‘Male Dilemma – Paths of Reflection.’ We chose the second option. The first could be misinterpreted as ‘men’s desire for sex.’

“So what?!” Peirene disagreed with our choice. “If people have a one-tracked mind and interpret men’s need for intimacy with sex only, let them. Sex sells. The series could do with a juicy touch.”

She’s right. Besides, Paths of Refection could be misinterpreted as the title for a series of religious pamphlets – and that’s definitely not what we offer.

Peirene revels in beautiful dresses. She loves circles – the ultimate female symbol – and sports them on her covers.

Some approve of such feminine dress sense, others really don’t.

There are bookshops that refuse to stock our books. Even though the demography of their clientele suggests that they ought to welcome our literature.

Take the case of one of our local book shops. When the first book came out two years ago and received wonderful reviews, I introduced myself as a local publisher and assumed – naively – that they would support us. Book No 2 and No 3 followed. The bookshop still wouldn’t stock Peirene books. I went back to visit them, Maddy too. We offered catalogues, bookmarks, posters, events. To no avail. Eventually we admitted defeat. We can’t force people to love us. The Nymph shed a few tears.

At the beginning of December I met our sales reps. “Some bookshops are reluctant to stock your books because of the covers.” “Is it the strong branding?” I asked. “No. They are happy to stock other branded publishers. But they don’t like your circles and the colours aren’t bold enough,” I was told. We discussed the options and decided to try an experiment.  Sacha, our designer, drew up mass market cover jackets for Beside the Sea – no Peirene branding, fat quotes across the front, photos of desolate beaches, windows with raindrops and sad looking women. The paper and print, cheap. No flaps. All together we came up with six suggestions. The Nymph was again in tears: “If you take away my identity, you take away my raison d’etre,” she lamented. I calmed her down: “We would never do that. We are just contemplating an additional mass market version of one or two titles.”

We sent the new covers to booksellers and asked their opinion. We received predictable responses. Bookshops who don’t want to stock us, didn’t reply. And the booksellers who replied, including Waterstones HQ, said they love our existing branding. They understand our wish to become more commercial but then none of them voted for our commercial covers. After all they know that the books, the authors, the brand – combined with a little hand-selling – does find buyers.

So, overall I found the exercise interesting – but I came away feeling prouder than ever of our beautiful feminine Nymph.

“Can I just make one point clear,” Peirene told me this week. “I don’t mind wearing the odd hideous outfit - but only if the dress makes me famous or sells my books. Can I do the choosing?”

I am delighted Peirene wants to dress up in a good cause – but I may reserve the right of veto.