Biteback Publishing Explained

Biteback Publishing is a British publisher based in Hull concentrating mainly on political titles. It was incorporated, as a private limited company with share capital, in 2009.^[1] It was jointly owned by its managing director Iain Dale^[2] and by Michael Ashcroft's Political Holdings Ltd,^[3] until 2018 when Dale stepped down to focus on his television and radio work.^[4] Biteback Publishing has published several books by Ashcroft including Call Me Dave, his controversial 2015 biography of David Cameron.^[5]

Other titles include Out in the Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier (2013) by James Wharton,^[6] The Left's Jewish Problem (2016) by Dave Rich, and Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World (2017) by investigative journalist James Ball.^[7] More recently, the company has published Jesse Norman's first novel, The Winding Stair (2023), which won the 2023 Parliamentary Book Award for Nonfiction or Fiction by a Parliamentarian, ^[8] and Andrew Pierce's bestselling ^[9] memoir Finding Margaret (2024), about his search for his birth mother.^[10]

As of 2014 around 20% of the company's sales are ebooks.^[11]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Biteback Publishing Limited. Endole. 26 September 2015.
2. Web site: Wharton. James. Biting Back. authoright. 26 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150927163615/http://www.authoright.com/author-advice/biting-back/. 27 September 2015. dead.
3. News: Pickard. Jim. Lord Ashcroft retires from House of Lords. 26 September 2015. Financial Times. 31 March 2015.
4. Web site: Iain Dale steps down at Biteback and Andy McNab takes on advisory role to guide Biteback into next stage of growth. Biteback Publishing. 6 December 2022.
5. Web site: Michael Ashcroft. Biteback Publishing. 26 September 2015.
6. Web site: Out In The Army My Life as a Gay Soldier by James Wharton. 16 January 2019.
7. Web site: Onwuemezi. Natasha. Investigation into post-truth to Biteback. The Bookseller. 18 November 2017.
8. Web site: 7 February 2024. Anderson. Porter. In London: Fêting the New Parliamentary Book Award Winners. Publishing Perspectives. 16 September 2024.
9. Web site: 26 May 2024. [hhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/charts/2024-05-19/mostsold/nonfiction?ref=chrt_bk_dx_intra_sd_nf Amazon Charts - Most Sold = Non-Fiction - Week of 19 May 2024]. Amazon UK. 16 September 2024.
10. News: 18 June 2024. Lillywhite. Maisie. Andrew Pierce's 'hard' mission to find his birth mum. BBC News. 16 September 2024.
11. Web site: 2 July 2014. Dale. Iain. BITEBACK PUBLISHING IS FIVE YEARS OLD. Iain Dale's blog. 27 November 2015.