THIS WEEK
Juliet Mabey & Novin Doostdar Oneworld Publications Co-founders
Marlon James, Paul Beatty... and now Oneworld can add Tayari Jones to its list of American authors it talent-spotted and led to major prize glory. Jones’ Women’s Prize for Fiction winner An American Marriage has shifted close to 100,000 units through the TCM—and while the fiction side of the business has got the plaudits in recent years, Oneworld’s strength is its balance across non-fiction and its Rock the Boat kids’ imprint. Husband-and-wife team Mabey and Doostdar will move their publisher to the Indie Alliance next year.
Marcus Leaver Welbeck Publishing Executive director
After dropping out of this list last year following his resignation from Quarto, Leaver returns as co-executive director (with former Bonnier Zaffre c.e.o. Mark Smith) of Welbeck, launched in April with the acquisition of Carlton Books. A whirl- wind of appointments included sales, marketing and publicity director James Horobin; Wayne Davies, group publisher for non-fiction; Alex Allan, heading its children’s list; Orion veteran Malcolm Edwards as publisher for André Deutsch; and former agent John Elek, leading new fiction imprint Portland Press.
Nigel Newton Bloomsbury Chief executive officer
Green Ever
It was a brilliant year in trade and academic alike for Newton’s Bloomsbury. The non-consumer arm’s robust
growth was driven by exports, although the departure of academic division m.d. Jonathan Glaspool, retiring after 20 years with the firm, will be a blow. The list also inked a licensing agreement to make 14,000 of its academic titles avail- able on digital platform Classoos, and announced a partnership with Human Kinetics, an educational publisher of sport and physical activity titles.
Peter Phillips Cambridge University Press Chief executive officer
CUP chief Phillips was elected as the new PA president in April, and in the role has been speaking out on Brexit and copy- right, as well as stressing the importance of the publishing industry to education. In the day job, CUP’s latest annual report showed a 42% surge in operating profit for the year to 30th April 2019, driven by a continuing focus on digital products and services. New innovations include its first audiobooks; a platform to publish research outputs, Cambridge Open Engage; and an Open Access agreement with the University of California.
12 13th December 2019
Cally Poplak Egmont Managing director
Egmont moved from its Shepherd’s Bush home to WeWork’s Minster Court prem- ises this year, with Poplak hoping the flexible space will encourage more agile, collaborative work. Notable successes this year have been with its début home- grown YA titles, such as Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, the best- selling UK children’s début of the year, and the third-bestselling YA book overall. Laura Steven’s The Exact Opposite of Okay won the Published Author category for the inaugural Comedy Women in Print Prize, too.
Perminder Mann Bonnier Books UK Chief executive officer
Mann’s Bonnier’s print sales are up double digits this year, and it is on course to return to profit. Its standout title is still Heather Morris’ runaway début The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which sold almost 500,000 copies for nearly £3m in 2019, while the sequel, Cilka’s Journey, has shifted more than 65,000 copies since its October release. Bonnier also launched literary fiction and non-fiction list Manilla Press, led by publisher Margaret Stead. Plans are now afoot to bring its Kings Road Publishing and Zaffre trade teams under one roof.
Stephen Page Faber & Faber Chief executive officer
Green Ever
Faber’s 90th year has been stellar, with literary gold-dust from Sally Rooney and Anna Burns continuing to drive sales.
Rooney’s second novel took Book of the Year at the Nibbies, while Leïla Slimani’s Lullaby won the Début Fiction category and Faber was crowned Independent Publisher of the Year. Page has made internal tweaks through new joiners and freshly created roles, most notably Bloomsbury’s Alexa von Hirschberg step- ping into Lee Brackstone’s shoes after the latter’s move to Orion.
Nigel Portwood Oxford University Press Chief executive officer
Green Ever
Portwood’s OUP had a decent 2% turnover rise this year, to £841m. But it was a mixed bag across the divisions: the
academic side had another excellent year, but it was a challenging time for its education arm. The biggest initiative was the online Oxford Test of English and Oxford Reading Buddy, a digital reading service for primary school children. A restructure of its children’s trade list saw four roles go, including that of well- respected head of children’s publishing, Liz Cross.
The Lead Story The Bookseller 150
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