Independent Publisher of the Year


WINNER FABER & FABER


Faber & Faber has been in business for nearly nine decades now, but in both commercial and critical terms 2017 was one of its best years yet. After a tricky period of change, it also saw Faber demonstrate all the creativity, entrepreneurialism and risk-taking for which independent publishing in the UK is renowned. Financially, it was Faber’s most successful year ever, with sales and profit both up. That was driven not by one or two blockbusters, but by steady growth across the fiction, non- fiction and children’s frontlists, and by sales of its rich backlist. A string of high-calibre awards included the Nobel Prize in Literature


for Kazuo Ishiguro and the Costa Novel of the Year for Sebastian Barry. Novelists such as Paul Auster repaid Faber’s long-term investment, and a new generation of talent emerged, including two of the year’s most acclaimed débutants: Sally Rooney and Rosamund Young. The children’s list has substantially improved too, winning two Blue Peter Book Awards. Overseas, Faber USA found its feet, doubling sales in 2017. There was much to celebrate beyond the publishing. Faber has been


using its famous brand in creative but sensitive ways, including the popular Members programme for readers and the Faber Academy, from which there is now a well-trodden path into publishing. Through its Independent Alliance—the fifth biggest entity in Nielsen BookScan’s TCM last year—it is making a major difference to other independents’ sales too. And it has made great strides on diversity: not just on the frontlist, which has always been one of the UK’s most multicultural, but in-house through BAME internships and work with Creative Access. “A great performance across the board with some highly impactful publishing—there are no weak links,” said the judges, who hailed the leadership of c.e.o. Stephen Page and publisher Mitzi Angel. “She’s done so much to revive the spirits at Faber, and her influence really shone last year.”


SHORTLIST


CANONGATE Winner of this award four years ago, it had a fine 2017, thanks in large part to Matt Haig—plus a stocking- filler hit in The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump.


HARDIE GRANT PUBLISHING Grew TCM sales by 10% on the back of extensive illustrated gift and cookery publishing and energetic rights activity.


NOSY CROW Grew sales yet again in 2017 to enter the list of the UK’s top 40 publishers, with international business accounting for more than 50% of its sales.


QUILLER PUBLISHING Thrived in its THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNERS 2018


niche of country life books, increasing its direct and special sales as well as trade.


SCRIBE UK Has increased the profile of Australian writing since launching in the UK, thanks to imaginative marketing and publicity.


SHORT BOOKS Michael Moore’s diet books contributed to an 11% hike in TCM sales in 2017—though there was much more besides.


SPCK Christian specialist that has bucked the trend in a tough market with imaginative commissioning and improved direct-to-consumer sales.


WITH THANKS TO: FIRSTY GROUP


KEY STRENGTHS Strong growth across fiction,


non-fiction, children’s, rights and US sales Host of literary awards including the Nobel


and Costa, plus dozens more shortlist places


Creative marketing and publicity and reinvigoration of backlist


A champion for other small and medium-sized publishers via the Independent Alliance


The Firsty Group was established in 2010, but it began life back in 2003 as a dedicated web development agency creating websites for a broad mix of consumer-facing businesses. In 2010 it chose to focus almost exclusively on delivering digital services to publishers and so Firsty was born.


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