Life will never be quite the same for West End-based book publisher Saraband regardless of what happens over the next few days.
The world changed anyway for the minnow publisher earlier in the summer when the mighty ethereal finger that is a Man Booker Prize nomination pointed its way towards G12 - to the surprise of almost everyone in the industry, critics and publishers alike.
Accolade: The Man Booker Prize nomination has been a game-changer for publisher Sara Hunt.
For Sara Hunt, publisher and founder of the independent book house, the last few months have been a highlight in a 32-year career.
The book that changed everything was His Bloody Project by the West End writer Graeme Macrae Burnet, his second novel, a crime thriller set in 19th century Wester Ross.
The book was released on the publisher's Contraband imprint which contains a stable of emerging talented Scottish writers including Shelley Day, Neil Broadfoot, Douglas Skelton and Matt Bendoris.
Yet Burnet's inclusion on the long list for one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the world may be surpassed if the Scottish book takes its place on the shortlist next week [announced Tuesday September 13].
But Sara is refusing to get carried away with idle hope or misplaced speculation.
Crime: The genre is certainly starting to pay dividends for Contraband.
She told Glasgow West End Today: "We are going to London for Tuesday's announcement. We will be going to the party for all the long listers at the Serpentine Pavilion, which will be very nice.
"The accolade of the Man Booker long listing is easily the most exciting thing that has ever happened. But we are not getting carried away now."
Sara reflects on how she entered the book in the first place: “I submit for everything on the basis - ‘why not?’
"I don't think we have been quite as excited as we have been about this one. We loved Graeme’s first novel [The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau].
“It’s like going in for the Oscars, you don’t hold your breath - so it’s been absolutely thrilling to get the recognition for it.”And the impact of the long listing has been instant and extraordinary, she says.
“Just on a purely practical level, the sales of the book have spiked like crazy. Fiction is a hugely crowded field.
“Since the long list we have had contact from publishers around the world - phone calls, emails, twitter, Facebook.
“Just everyone wants a piece of this book."
Sara says Saraband had already sold rights for His Bloody Project in Germany and North America, with a TV rights option also signed, even before the nomination.
But what has followed has been beyond what they could have expected.
“We were already making good progress with the book, but we have just had floods of enquiries from press, from foreign publishers, reviewers, all sorts of people.
“I think the biggest thing is foreign rights because we have been hearing from publishers we never knew existed.
"It’s a huge world out there. The response to this book in my experience has been absolutely off the scale.
“I am sure if he makes the shortlist, any territories that are not yet signed up I’m sure will end up with bidding wars."
She said: “Graeme's career is really made now, he has had so much publicity as a result of being long listed for the Man Booker Prize.“So in a way that was the be all and end all. But everything will round up hugely if he makes the shortlist.
“I think for us [the publisher] the long list will change things because we will have come to the attention of literary editors and shops who did not know us before.
“But I've been in publishing for my whole career, and I've seen so many ups and downs that it would be foolish to think that one amazing thing like this will transform everything.
“Because what it has transformed is Graeme's book and we do have an immediate knock-on for our rights especially on the Contraband side.
“And foreign rights is why we have decided to go for this Scottish crime imprint because there is a huge demand for it from around the world - it's almost got some of the magic of Scandi Noir."
Since its inception in the early 1990s, Saraband's staple offerings have been illustrated and narrative non-fiction, with a specialism in nature writing, but also history and arts.
But in the last three years, the Contraband stable has developed nicely for the West End team - made up of Sara and editorial director Craig Hillsley - with people like Michael Malone, Skelton and Broadfoot making a name in Tartan Noir.
Both Broadfoot and Bendoris were nominated last year for the Scottish Crime Novel of the Year.
Another successful debut this year has been Shelley Day, with Confession of Stella Moon, a psychological thriller.
Highlight: Man Booker nomination caps a 32-year career for Sara Hunt.
“We just decided to go for a very broad range of interesting, well written novels that were under a crime related umbrella."
Sitting in the beautifully appointed West End flat overlooking the railway on one side and the West of Scotland cricket ground on the other, I ask what being in this part of the city means for the business.
“I think Glasgow is an incredibly creative hub which is why I moved here [2000]. And there is obviously a brilliant literary scene on all different levels, poetry groups and all sorts of different things," says Sara.
“And I suppose you find more authors where you are than if you were further away.
"I also love the new Waterstones. There is now that hub of Waterstones, Oxfam and the library, which hits every part of the book-selling, retail cycle."
Sara adds: “It’s just a really great area to live. I don't think I looked anywhere else - it has just such a lovely atmosphere."
In recent weeks, the unassuming publishing hub has been alive to global interest which is in no danger of disappearing soon.
Proverbial fingers are crossed for the days ahead - but either way, many more people now know about the works on offer at Saraband and its crime brand Contraband.
