SPONSOR ILP
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International Literary Properties (ILP) is a global company that invests in, acquires, manages and enhances representatives to help realise the value of literary properties, protect their legacy and create new opportunities.
PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR
OVERVIEW Despite more Covid lockdowns— or perhaps in part because of them— trade publishing with the caveat of gaps in data, sales by value were the highest since Nielsen BookScan started keeping records. Nimble responses to disruption were in evidence at each of these nine publishers, along with superb frontlist publishing, massive strength in depth and brilliant reach readers.
BLOOMSBURY Bloomsbury’s adult arm’s TCM sales grew 25% and bucked the downward trend in e-books—thanks in part to its Head of Zeus buyout. It broad- ened frontlist, reinvigorated backlist, and had silverware with Susanna Clarke right (the Women’s Prize) and Abdulrazak Gurnah (the Nobel).
EBURY Ebury is shortlisted for the third year in a row, after Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse continued its extraordinary run. Stacey Solomon right and Jane Dunn also made the year’s non-fiction top 10. Notable was the volume it sought out rather than bought in.
JOHN MURRAY PRESS John Murray is by far the oldest name on the shortlist, but it proved itself thoroughly modern in 2021. It had a record TCM year, thanks to Billy Connolly and Miriam Margolyes right. Imprints Two Roads and Jessica Kingsley Publishing flourished, and it launched Basic Books and Baskerville.
PENGUIN GENERAL Penguin General competes for this award for the seventh year in a row. It had the TCM’s top-selling book in The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, whose new hardback also flew. It swept the board at the Costa Awards, and Caleb Azumah Nelson was one of many breakout stars.
USBORNE Usborne was the TCM’s top children’s specialist in 2021, and the 10th-biggest publisher overall—remarkable for a family-owned indie. Its enor- mous backlist provided the bulk of sales, and there was strong trading overseas. Work on charitable projects, diversity and staff care was outstanding.
JUDGES' VERDICT
NIMBLE RESPONSES TO DISRUPTION WERE IN EVIDENCE AT EACH OF THESE NINE PUBLISHERS
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ORION The reigning Publisher of the Year saw TCM sales jump again, by 25%. All its imprints fired, and while some growth was from bankers such as Ian Rankin and Michael Connolly, much of it came from surprise hits such as Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers below—testa- ment to its superb marketing.
SIMON & SCHUSTER Simon & Schuster joins this shortlist for the second time in 10 years, after full-year TCM sales soared 39%. It nailed the celeb memoir market with Bob Mortimer and Dave Grohl, while Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End led the children’s division. New imprint Gallery Books hit the ground running.
CANONGATE Last year’s Independent Publisher of the Year is a short- listee here too. It had its best- ever year by a long chalk, with TCM sales up 60% to propel it into the top 20 publishers. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig below was the year’s third-biggest book, and exports and rights rocketed.
FABER This shortlisting is one of four for Faber on the trade side this year, after a record year. Sally Rooney and Kazuo Ishiguro above helped, and exports, children’s and audio thrived. Its books had 100-plus prize nods; the Independent Alliance and Faber Academy and Friends were more strings to its bow.
EXTRAORDINARY RUN CONTINUED FOR PUBLISHER EBURY
CHARLIE MACKESYS
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