SPONSOR


DESCRIPTION Clays specialise in the manufacture of monochrome books, reacting quickly to their  


IMPRINT OF THE YEAR


OVERVIEW Only two of these nine  on this shortlist last  publishing lists go through their ups       in their backlists too,  note that many are  in their output, suggesting that in  


AVON HarperCollins’ Avon combined the boutique approach


of a small team with the reach of a corporate to great effect in 2019. Sleep by C L Taylor (right) was its biggest TCM seller, and Mandy Robotham was a stand- out début. Export and rights were both up substantially.


CHATTO & WINDUS The PRH list had the joint Booker winner


and the most valuable novel of 2019 in Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. She was one of 10 prize winners and 50 nominations for Chatto & Windus authors in a critically acclaimed year.


HAMISH HAMILTON Hamish Hamilton won the Booker,


with Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. Robert Macfarlane was another prize winner, Ali Smith topped the fiction charts for the first time, and the frontlist blanketed reviewers’ end-of-year picks.


LADYBIRD Ladybird at is a third imprint for PRH on this list. Rhiannon


Fielding’s Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn was the top seller on a relaunched trade list, and there was strong growth for its brand licensing and education titles for global markets, too.


ZAFFRE Zaffre at Bonnier Books UK had the year’s biggest-


selling novel, Heather Morris’ 2018-issued The Tattooist of Auschwitz. A third of its 60 new titles reached the Sunday Times bestseller lists, and as with many of these imprints, audio was a big growth area.


JUDGES VERDICT


MANY ARE RELATIVELY    


41


BLUEBIRD Bluebird at Pan Mac rode the wave of Kay Featherstone


and Kate Allinson’s Pinch of Nom—the bestselling book of the year, and by some distance. That helped Bluebird become the UK’s 14th-biggest imprint in 2019—with just eight members of staff.


ELECTRIC MONKEY Electric Monkey at Egmont had a high


hit rate for its 11 children’s books in 2019, led by Holly Jackson’s 60,000-selling début A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Elizabeth Acevedo, mean- while, became the first writer of colour to win the Carnegie.


PIATKUS Piatkus at Hachette celebrated 40 years in publishing with


new hits from Gemma Bray and Kate Ellis. But most of its momentum came from back- list, and Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman was its top seller, eight years on from publication.


PICADOR Pan Mac list Picador won this award last year, and TCM sales


jumped another 41% in 2019. It was led again by Adam Kay (above), as well as bestsellers from David Nott, Elizabeth Macneal and Jessie Burton. Events and retail promotions were major strengths.


BERNARDINE EVARISTO


BAGGED A BOOKER WIN FOR HAMISH HAMILTON


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