THIS WEEK BELINDA TOOR HQ DIGITAL B
elinda Toor is probably the only person in the industry to go from a Cadbury factory (working in analytics on the Orwellian-sounding Continuous Improvement team) to publishing. Toor always wanted to get into the books world, but was knocked back time and again until
she gained a place on HarperCollins’ Traineeship. She then landed a role at HQ Digital and moved up rapidly from editorial assistant to commissioning editor, and took over as acting head of digital in a maternity cover role last autumn. One thread across her roles has been strategic plans for each book: “Booksellers and physical bookstores play vital roles in building print bestsellers... we don’t have this luxury, and rely on being able to communicate the ‘hook’ within a few seconds. Good metadata and dynamic pricing are, of course, important in trying to increase online visibility, too.” A highlight for Toor was launching her Born to Write open submissions project last year, aimed at writers from underrepre- sented backgrounds, and “the plan is to keep building bestselling brands”.
Rising Stars Class of 2021
HANNAH WEATHERILL NORTHBANK TALENT
F
ollowing a Masters in Translation Studies at Edinburgh, a couple of internships with indie
publishers, and two years as an assis- tant at Mira Trenchard Literary Scouts, Hannah Weatherill joined the newly launched Northbank Talent Management as adult fiction and chil- dren’s agent in 2019. Founder Diane Banks says she “stood out right away” for her “detailed knowledge of the market and out-of-the-box thinking”. Over the past two years, she has struck 11 début fiction deals and five début children’s deals, and expanded the territories sold for existing Northbank authors. Highlights include The Lock In by Phoebe Luckhurst, sold to Michael Joseph for six figures, and Marion Todd’s See Them Run being shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Début Prize. Recently, she took over the agency’s book-to-screen representation, getting off to a flying start, with two projects optioned already. Long term, she wants to “encourage openness within the industry by supporting new writers’ schemes and seeking out talent from a range of backgrounds”.
EVE WERSOCKI MORRIS SIMON & SCHUSTER CHILDREN’S E
ve Wersocki Morris has achieved “unparalleled” coverage for kids’ books over her career—author Liz Kessler describes her work for her title When the World Was Ours as “hands down the best publicity campaign I’ve ever had”—and, from March 2020 onwards, her work
on virtual events was described by colleagues as “incredible”. When lockdown hit, Wersocki Morris “didn’t for one moment think events couldn’t go ahead in some form”. A virtual event with bookshop Read Holmfirth for Katie and Kevin Tsang’s Dragon Mountain saw 850 children join in, and another for Sophy Henn’s Pizazz saw 1,200 kids get involved. In 2020’s lockdowns, her virtual schools campaigns reached over 5,000 children and sold thousands of books. “The pandemic has made us realise we need books more than ever,” Wersocki Morris says. “Giving more space for children’s books in the media and retail will help make a reader for life, which makes a book buyer for life. It’s in everyone’s interest to create new readers by investing in diverse stories and authors.”
STUART WHITE WRITEMENTOR C
hildren’s author Stuart White set up WriteMentor, a platform for kids’ writers looking to improve their craft, after signing his first publish- ing deal in 2017. Nearly 40 authors—including Eugene Lambert, Sophie Cameron and Aisha Bushby—volunteered, and the scheme
has mentored over 200 writers, including Jenny Pearson, A J Sass and Jenni Spangler. In total, 35 writers have signed with agents, 13 have publishing deals and the community is currently 1,500-plus strong. White also set up the WriteMentor Children’s Novel Award, now in its second year, launched mentor service WM Sparks and online courses, and online conference WOWCon, which White describes as “for those of us with little time, money or ability to travel, either due to geography or disability, where we can benefit in the same way as those in more fortunate, privileged positions. One of the things I’m very proud of with WriteMentor is that I’ve had very few negative interactions. The people who decide to write for kids, or work in the industry, are the very best of us.”
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