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DESCRIPTION The Firsty Group was established in 2010, but it began life back in 2003 as a dedicated web development agency. In 2010 it chose to focus almost exclusively on delivering digital services to publishers and so Firsty was born.


INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR


OVERVIEW The Big Four


publishers continued to dominate the mass market in 2019, but beyond the bestseller lists, independents thrived. These eight indies show the vibrant personality of the indie sector in trade,  specialist markets, and what they might lack in resources they more than make up for in creativity and can-do attitude. None of the eight has received this award before—and three, Imagine That, Joffe Books and Sweet Cherry—are being nominated at the British Book Awards  The winner of the Small Press award will also be considered for this prize.


ATLANTIC BOOKS Atlantic Books continued a remark-


able with a TCM sales hike of 14%. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (right) was the standout critically and commercially, but Isabel Hardman and Steve Richards were among rich pickings from a rejuvenated non-fiction list, and there was also double- digit growth in e-book sales.


IMAGINE THAT Imagine That, known as Top That before a rebrand


in 2018, doubled its TCM sales last year. Activity books remain core, and Dan Green’s How to Draw 101 Monsters topped its sales, but it also added a new imprint for picture books and chapter fiction. The packaging side of the Suffolk- based business remains very strong, too.


SCRIBE UK Scribe UK had its best year since launching into the


UK from its Australia base in 2013. Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope was its bestseller through the UK TCM, but only after Scribe fought off legal threats to have it pulled. There were several breakout hits on the fiction side, and children’s imprint Scribble found its feet too.


SPCK SPCK can trace its history in publish- ing back to the 17th


century, and it has emerged from some turbulent times with record sales and profits in 2019. The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr (right) became SPCK’s fastest-selling new book yet, and admirably the publisher put much of its prof- its into causes such as prison literacy programmes.


SWEET CHERRY Sweet Cherry completes the trio of independent chil-


dren’s publishers on the short- list for this Nibbie. In 2019 it broadened out its publishing formats, and the success of Numberblocks Annual 2020 confirmed its savvy in brand licensing. From its HQ in Leicester, Sweet Cherry also proved itself a champion of diversity in publishing.


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JOFFE BOOKS Joffe doubled its output and tripled its staff numbers


in a best-ever year in 2019. It added historical, romance and saga fiction to its core digital- first crime and mystery lists, and bolted on more overlooked titles by acquiring the Robert Hale backlist from Crowood Press. Sales for Joy Ellis above and Faith Martin both passed the two million mark.


NOSY CROW Nosy Crow is nominated here for a seventh year


in a row. Where’s Mr Duck? by Ingela Arrhenius was its biggest TCM seller, but the business again had massive strength in depth across picture books and fiction. It has more than tripled revenue in just four years, and now gets two-thirds of its sales from rights, exports and coeditions.


SEARCH PRESS Search Press shows the remark- able strengths of


independents in the niches. It celebrates 50 years in the arts and crafts market this year, and published nearly a third of the category’s top TCM sellers. Backlist titles like Angela Nguyen’s Kawaii dominate, but Search Press moved nimbly into digital content with a subscription platform too.


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INGELA ARRHENIUS ILLUSTRATED TITLES


HAVE BEEN A STAR ON NOSY CROWS LIST


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