Nicola Pesce he has been active in the publishing world for over twenty years: he founded a publishing house when he was just 16 years old with the aim of publishing a novel. Paradoxically, he only started circulating his works in 2019, and in a short time he became an editorial phenomenon. On Facebook he has over two hundred thousand followers, while on Instagram he reaches 65 thousand. To learn more about the publisher, the writer and the social phenomenon we created ainterview with Nicola Pesce.
“I am skilled in marketing and as an entrepreneur, but I would like to be a writer immersed in a bucolic environment” he tells us as we are about to have tea just before the presentation of his book which was held at the Cuori d'Inchiostro bookshop in Vibo Valentia.
The taste of apricot is Nicola Pesce's latest novel, published by Mondadori. The creator of NPE Editions he told us about his journey as an editor and novelist, passing through the social phenomenon that he has built. Here is the report of our interview with Nicola Pesce.
You have been in publishing for over twenty years: how much has this world changed compared to when you started?
Twenty years ago I was nobody, so it's an exaggeration to say I was in publishing. At the time I was a kid who printed things at home on a copier. I can say that with the advent of social media and Amazon, being a publisher has become easier. Previously, making a stranger's book known was impossible. Now managing social pages is easier. In the past, the large distributors did not want to take on new publishers for distribution, while now Amazon does. A long time ago it was impossible to be a small publisher, now it is.
Has the web therefore been an important support for the evolution of small publishing?
Without the web, huge funds were needed. Contacting the authors involved sending letters, having to print the paper in advance, making large investments and knowing the distributors. It was impossible that a stranger like me without a financial investment could do anything. Now those who make themselves known on social media could also publish themselves on Amazon and sell their two hundred or three hundred copies.
Has the growth of Edizioni NPE occurred with the increase in e-commerce?
Edizoni NPE was born with 300 euros in 2002 and every year we have doubled our turnover. Today we are big enough that we have had to create multiple brands. There is Burno Edizioni which deals with fiction, and was born due to the fact that some titles like mine The fox who loved books and the one about Bud Spencer sold too many copies and it seemed like we weren't dealing with comics anymore. We also created IVVI Editore, which is a label that aims to publish debuts. It comes from my experience with publishing houses. When I tried to get published at the beginning of my career I remember that the publishers tended not to respond, or to send pre-prints, or they asked for money, and I still remember the letters of request for two million lire. NPE was born with the aim of publishing new authors. But after we grew so much, reaching the point of producing only fifty books a year, each work became an investment and we could no longer say yes to all the debuts. In short, I lost my initial purpose and for this reason I founded IVVI, a label dedicated to debutants that doesn't ask for money and publishes 95% of their works, making them available in bookstores and on Amazon.
Was Edizioni NPE born with the aim of dedicating itself above all to comics?
I wanted to be a writer and an artist but I wanted to have a minimum of entrepreneurial mentality. I couldn't immediately get distributed by Messaggerie. When I started I loved classic literature and I liked comics, even if I wasn't crazy about them. I subsequently fell in love with Toppi, Battaglia and Micheluzzi. At the time I discovered that among the distributors there was Panini who didn't look at anyone in the face (in a good way), and put you in the Anteprima catalog with your publication. I decided to propose my magazine which was called Underground Press: I wrote it, I laid out the layout, I printed it and I stapled it in a hundred copies. I thought it would be a hard sell, but Preview's first order was for exactly one hundred copies.
With Edizioni NPE you are also focused on non-fiction, which you manage to make quite pop thanks to the topics chosen, which range from superheroes to directors like Zack Snyder. You have a very careful philological approach: was it always your intention to combine the high level of non-fiction care with pop topics?
I would distinguish in Edizioni NPE between cinema and comics non-fiction: the latter is based on a university approach. From Except Mickey Mouse a Jacovitti – Sixty years of comic surrealism we tried to do something that didn't exist in nonfiction. We didn't achieve this result thanks to me, but by having authors like Luca Boschi at my side who guided me in this direction. We also publish horror and cinema essays, and this is because they are two of my passions, especially horror, considering that I grew up with Lovecraft and Stephen King. But we put the greatest care into comic essays. Already in 2025 you should see things that have never been seen before.
Do you have any predictions you could give us regarding the upcoming Edizioni NPE publications you are focusing on?
I prefer not to say anything out of good luck, but we will make large volumes that will mix comics and non-fiction with a special series.
Tell us about your experience as editor of the magazine Comics School?
I have always dreamed of creating comics schools, and a long time ago I founded some. As soon as I learned that Laura Scarpa had left the historic magazine School of Comics I rushed to detect it. But I have to admit that even if it was a dream for me to be on newsstands, perhaps it's no longer the right time. This was a pleasant madness, I held out as long as I could and at a certain point I handed everything back to Laura Scarpa.
You seem like an unusual character for the business world, but you're good at being a publisher. How do your two souls coexist: that of a person who wants to live the retired life of a writer and that of an entrepreneur?
I must say that unfortunately I am quite good at being an entrepreneur, but I am trying to create a reality in my publishing house such that things can go on even without me. I wouldn't want to be needed anymore. Edizioni NPE is growing by 50% a year but I'm no longer made for work, I would like a bucolic life to spend writing books.
If you decided to step away, would you still maintain the management of Edizioni NPE, or would you like to abandon publishing completely?
I would always remain the owner of the brands but from a more secluded position. Now it weighs heavily on me to be the key man, the figure without whom society stops. We have eight collaborators who I would like to make ten or twelve in a couple of years so that, from marketing to the web, each sector can have its own manager, and all this should free me.
You have gained very broad editorial experience, covering all types of roles. At this moment your activity as a novelist has also led you to publish for another publisher. Can you separate Nicola Pesce as writer from publisher?
I manage to keep things separate because I live writing in a pure way, I don't think about the public and the publishers but simply about what I feel like writing. In fact, my most successful novel is about a fox and a mouse who talk to each other in a den for two hundred pages. I thought by moving to Mondadori that I would learn something new. They have fields in which they are powerful, because when your book comes out for Mondadori it is on all the shelves for a month or two. They are kind and helpful, the opposite of what you would imagine. While on promotion and the press office I believe I am already doing an excellent job with my publishing house.
Is this experience gained as a writer for Mondadori leading you to think about something new to do with Edizioni NPE?
Yes just like this. Next year I intend to publish a book with my own brand and one with Mondadori, and I'm sure that with NPE I will sell double. The problem is that the author Nicola Pesce sells too much. While for Neil Gaiman we print five thousand copies and sell them over the course of a few years, Nicola Pesce sells that same issue in two weeks. What can a small publisher do with an author like that?
Does your success as a novelist owe much to your social activity?
In reality I am not very social. I make a post in two minutes and look at the comments once a day. Success comes from a marketing mindset and I know I have to be consistent on social media. I love things like late Latin in thirteenth-century Italian literature, but I'm avoiding making it the subject of discussion. I know that certain topics would appeal to a small segment of the public and would alienate a larger segment. So I'm dedicating my share of social soul to a side of me that attracts a wider audience. I think it is useless to say today that I have studied the Little treasure by Brunetto Latini because it is something that would not attract more than two hundred people. By posting every day I discover that there is a superstructure in every individual. Scaffolding is created on the street and also on social media, but I am down to earth and have created common ground with the people who follow me.
Your novel The taste of apricot deals with the story of an old hermit writer, the idea of entering another phase of life seems almost like your goal.
I'm looking forward to becoming a retired older person. My Facebook and Instagram pages have ten million visits a month. At least one or two thousand users always ask me “why don't you make a book that collects the experiences you describe in the posts?” However, there were those who suggested a biography to me, and so I created a sort of fictionalized biography, also because Mondadori had also made this type of request. By writing I discovered things about myself while also putting a certain distance from the character I created.
L’interview with Nicola Pesce ends abruptly because there is little left until the meeting with the public. During the presentation the author and publisher recounted anecdotal experiences that showed all the facets of him. One of the most particular aspects he focused on was the importance of kindness and empathy towards others. And to underline this aspect, before leaving, Nicola Pesce wanted to tell an episode that occurred in the Vibo Valentia bookshop during a previous copy signing.
There was a very silent little girl with lost eyes – she said – Nobody paid attention to her. When she approached with her book I wrote to her 'To you who have a world inside but no one knows it'. After leaving the bookshop and reading her dedication, she came back hugging me, moved. Is it possible that no one had realized this person's need to express himself?
