SIMON Mason spent most of his professional life producing reference books for academic libraries, writing children’s books in his spare time.

Now he is managing director of Oxford children’s publisher David Fickling Books – launching it as an independent business after 12 years under the corporate embrace of the book trade giant Random House.

He came to Oxford from a comprehensive school in Sheffield after winning a place at Lady Margaret Hall, then worked at Oxford University Press in the mid-1980s, producing the Oxford History of Art series.

He became senior acquisitions editor at library supplier ABC Clio, then moved to a similar high-level post with US-based Greenwood, but at the start of the recession he lost his job when the Oxford office was closed down.

Faced with a bleak Christmas at the end of 2008, he went to see Mr Fickling, who had accepted his children’s series The Quigleys, comic stories about family life in a wacky household.

“I asked him if I could write another novel for him.

“He said ‘yes’ and asked if I could do some publishing work for him as well.”

Mr Mason spent a year raising the finance to launch a list of 20 to 25 books a year, starting next summer. Mr Mason said: “Being small, we can be nimble. We don’t have to follow a corporate policy.”

He added: “It has been fantastically enjoyable.”

Mr Mason, author of three comedy novels for adults, as well as another successful children’s book, Moon Pie, wrote the first Quigleys books on the train, while he commuted to London to work for publishers Thames & Hudson.

Now he is happy working four days a week for David Fickling, leaving more time for writing.

Was it a risk to take the imprint independent? “Yes,” said Mr Mason. “It’s also exhilarating. “You take the risks in the hope that you are going to be able to survive and thrive by being masters of your own destiny, publishing the books you want to publish.”

It’s a philosophy that has paid off for Mr Fickling, who pioneered the ‘crossover’ book, marketed both for older children and for adults, with Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

The company has recently joined the Independent Alliance – a consortium of 11 smaller UK publishing house which have linked up to create a force large enough to compete with the global giants.