The Bookseller 150 is sponsored by Mosaic Executive Search
Stig Abell TLS Editor
Since becoming editor of the TLS three and a half years ago, Abell has helped modernise the literary journal and broaden its reach. He’s revamped its website, launched a podcast, hired a social media editor, pushed for more female reviewers and added additional commentary and feature pages, result- ing in increased circulation. This year, he joined forces with William Collins to launch the TLS Books imprint for “zeit- geisty intellectual content that people want to read”. He was also the chair of judges for this year’s Baillie Gifford.
PR, sales & marketing
Preena Gadher Dotti Irving Fiona McMorrough Hannah Telfer Robert Waddingon Steven Williams & Jason Bartholomew
Preena Gadher Riot Communications Founder
Though her co-founder Anwen Hoosen left the PR firm last year to set up a liter- ary agency, Gadher’s Riot has not lost a step with reams of clever, eye-catching campaigns. Bookish clients and initia- tives include a number of projects for Penguin Random House (Yuval Noah Harari brand-building and helping with PRH’s big once-a-year group-wide showcase) and a variety of work for the National Centre for Writing. A formidable group of PR powerhouses are at the top of the Riot team, including Adele Minchin and Katy Macmillan-Scott.
Dotti Irving Four Colman Getty Chief executive officer
Irving’s 2019 got off to a bang with the unveiling of the new sponsor of the Booker Prize, Crankstart, the charitable foundation of Silicon Valley venture capitalist Sir Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman. Along with the Booker and its international counterpart, Four Culture runs PR for several other prizes– including the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (which Irving helped found; she also announced this year’s winner as Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five), the PEN Pinter Prize and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse.
Andrew Holgate Te Sunday Times Literary editor
Holgate’s Sunday Times is still the most influential books broadsheet out there, but Holgate has continued to stregthen the brand and promote books outside of its pages. This includes the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, which earlier this year announced changes to its sponsorship, with the University of Warwick becoming its title partner and PFD c.e.o. Caroline Michel named its first patron. First works from poet Raymond Antrobus, short-story writer Julia Armfield are among those being considered for this year’s award.
Hannah Telfer Penguin Random House M.d., audiences and audio
Telfer is overseeing a transformation at PRH as the publisher seeks to reach out wider than ever to more people. Esquire digital editor Sam Parker joined last May as its first ever editor-in-chief, marking the website’s shift from a predominantly marketing-led unit to an editorially- driven space “with a clear voice and purpose”. There is loads of talent across Telfer’s team, including 2019 Bookseller Rising Star Zainab Juma, who has spearheaded a host of eye-catching campaigns such as Penguin Pride and #LikeAWoman
Steven Williams & Jason Bartholomew Midas PR Joint-c.e.o.s
A bit of change in personnel for Midas. A year and a half ago, Williams’ co-founder Tony Mulliken moved up to chairman, while Bartholomew crossed over from a rights director role at Hachette to join Williams left at the agency with the golden touch. This was followed by a management buyout, with directors Nicola Green and Tory Lyne-Pirkis among those who joined the new board. This year’s eye-catching hire was Georgina Moore, who joined the firm after spending 17 years at Headline.
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Fiona McMorrough FMcM Founder
This year, McMorrough’s FMcM took over PR for World Book Day from The Corner Shop. WBD director Kirsten Grant hailed the 2019 campaign–which received more trade backing and social media reach–“better than ever before”. FMcM also looks after several literary prizes (Rathbones Folio Prize, The Cundhill History Prize, The British Book Awards, to name a few) and organisations (includ- ing The Literacy Consultancy and The London Book Fair). With the firm already working on WBD’s 2020 campaign, the future is only looking brighter for FMcM.
Robert Waddingon Penguin Random House Group sales director
Waddington manages teams selling across both the UK and internationally, having originally cut his salesman teeth at Asda/Wal-Mart. He joined Random House in 2003 as a key account manager, rising to become sales director at Cornerstone. There he helped to drive the success of E L James’ Fifty Shades trilogy and grow the sales of authors including James Patterson, Robert Harris and Kathy Reichs. He was promoted to deputy international sales director in 2012, before taking the top sales job almost two years ago.
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