Children's Publisher of the Year
WINNER BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Two Costa Awards, the bestselling début fiction and general non-fiction books, and sharp growth across e-books, audio and rights as well as print— Bloomsbury had a stellar year even before one considers the biggest book series of modern times: Harry Potter. It kicked off last year with a Costa Children’s Book Award for Brian
Conaghan’s The Bombs That Brought Us Together, and completed the double this January with one of its biggest hits of 2017, Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer. In between, it had books on shortlists for other major awards including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Kate Greenaway Medal. Commercially, its biggest hits of 2017 included Greg James and Chris
Smith’s joint début Kid Normal, which sold around 60,000 copies in its first six months. Kate Pankhurst’s Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World led the charge on the non-fiction side, and helped to bring the year’s battle for female empowerment to children as well as adults. And then there was Harry. In the 20th anniversary year of Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Bloomsbury targeted those who had grown up with the series with new “House” editions, titles linked to a British Library exhibition and lively social media activity. In all, Bloomsbury achieved a sixth successive year of turnover and
profit growth, a hike of a third in TCM sales, and similar growth in exports. “The sales numbers are impressive, with or without Harry Potter,” said the judges. “It did brilliantly with the backlist, but there was a lot of newness too—it feels like it is constantly driving forwards.” They also admired Bloomsbury’s efforts to reach dyslexic or hesitant readers with a new High Low series, and the leadership of Emma Hopkin, who now oversees Bloomsbury’s kids’ and adult trade arms. “She’s done a great job . . . She knows children’s publishing inside out, and is a real strategic thinker too."
SHORTLIST
DK Shortlisted for a seventh year in a row, and published a fifth of last year’s top 100 children’s non-fiction books.
HACHETTE CHILDREN'S GROUP A group of lists that is building into a powerhouse, adding schools and licensing elements to fiction stars including Cressida Cowell.
HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN'S BOOKS In David Walliams it had the biggest children’s brand name of all in 2017, and Paddington backed him up— but it broke out several new names too.
NOSY CROW Last year’s winner, it achieved another sharp increase in UK
THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNERS 2018
market share in 2017, and stepped up its rights game in international markets.
SCHOLASTIC Another children’s pub- lisher to grow through in the TCM, with Liz Pichon, Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler and Terry Deary the chief contributors.
USBORNE PUBLISHING After a blip in 2016—the only year in the past 17 in which it has not posted TCM growth— the launch of an imprint in China led relentless international activity.
WALKER BOOKS Exploited the riches of its backlist to great effect, and continued its important long-term work on diversity and inclusion.
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WITH THANKS TO: TESCO
KEY STRENGTHS
Sharp increase in sales across the board, including rights, exports and audio as well as the TCM
Wide-ranging fiction and YA successes, including major prize winners
Imaginative activity around the Harry Potter brand, 20 years after it was born
Commitment to diversity in publishing and inclusivity in reading
Tesco is one of the world’s largest retailers
with 476,000 colleagues, serving millions of customers a week in its stores and online.
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