London Book Fair


Company Spotlight


brands over time. De Gomery says: “At FairyLoot, we’re always very big on champion- ing authors we feature.” She adds that the new imprint will hone this attitude, bringing writers “into one home where we can take that care to the next level”. The Transworld team working on the new imprint will comprise Rachel Winterbottom (who Young lured over from HarperVoyager and joins this month as Transworld’s SFF publishing director), senior commissioning editor Lara Stevenson and an editorial assistant, currently being recruited. De Gomery likens Young and herself to “two


cooks in a kitchen without a recipe”. “You do have to make up the rules as you go along,” Young agrees. It is clear on screen – Young speaking from her London home and de Gomery dialling in from Thailand – that the duo possesses the same unbounded enthusi- asm for the project – or, as de Gomery dubs it, “highly strung” energy.


Ears to the ground Whatever you want to call it, this energy has proved a boon for de Gomery who, along with her partner and co-founder Michael Sammer, has grown FairyLoot exponentially since its 2016 launch. The original team of two has expanded to 35, with plans to recruit four more members in response to the growing subscrip- tion lines and not, as I initially suggest, because of the new imprint. Along with the Fairy Trove, an online book-


shop selling exclusive FairyLoot editions, the fantasy subscription service boasts three distinct tranches – YA, Adult and Romantasy – and is soon to kick-start a fourth, the Epic Fantasy box, in May. And as FairyLoot grows, so does demand. “We’re really proud to have tens of thousands of subscribers,” says de Gomery. And it could be far more: wait lists for the boxes are long, and the timing lengthy,


Five FairyLoot sub-box hits


1


Stephanie Garber Once Upon a


Broken Heart Hodderscape, HB, £16.99, 9781529380903


The first in the series, in which Evangeline Fox seeks help from the Prince of Hearts. The FairyLoot edition had reversible dust jackets and sprayed, stencilled pink edges.


132,560 TCM copies sold


2 Rebecca Ross


Divine Rivals Magpie, HB, £16.99, 9780008588151


The first instalment in the Letters of Enchantment series was a FairyLoot selection in May 2023, and follows two budding journalists and a war between the gods.


44,407 TCM copies sold


3


Heather Fawcett Emily Wilde’s


Encyclopaedia of Faeries Orbit, HB, £20, 9780356519128 A scholar of faeries and her handsome academic rival try to discover the most elusive faeries of all. The FairyLoot edition evoked the novel’s whimsical nature, focusing on the story’s floral motifs.


40,168 TCM copies sold


31 4 Kristen Ciccarelli


The Crimson Moth Magpie, HB, £14.99, 9780008650568


Ciccarelli’s romantasy- twist on The Scarlet Pimpernel gets the lepidoptera treatment, with a red-and-black sprayed edge and bespoke cover featuring the winged creatures. The first in a duology.


27,778 TCM copies sold


5


Sue Lynn Tan Daughter of the


Moon Goddess HarperVoyager, HB, £27.99, 9780063031302


The first in the Celestial Kingdom duology and a retelling of the Chinese legend of the moon goddess. Sprayed edges feature swallows and the blooming flowers from the cover.


34,029 TCM copies sold


with seven to eight months the minimum period before would-be subscribers can be allowed on-board. That demand has translated into huge sales,


both for the authors who get picked for a FairyLoot sub-box and for the company: FairyLoot’s latest filing to Companies House (for the 12 months ending 31st March 2024) shows revenue of £19.1m and after-tax profit of £2.7m – year-on-year jumps of 37% and 49%, respectively.


We’re like two cooks in a kitchen without a recipe… We’re very reactive to what people are looking for, what they want to see more of and what they want to see less


The imprint is a new string to FairyLoot’s


bow and an exciting prospect for the business' subscribers and online fans. “We have one of the largest [social media] accounts on Bookstagram, with over 553,000 followers,” says de Gomery. “FairyLoot is, essentially, a brand built on social media.” This means “we have our ears to the ground” and “we’ve always been able to be very reactive to what people are looking for, what they want to see more of and what they want to see less”. The responsive, adaptable approach, and


the high engagement FairyLoot delivers on social media, will be “brought in” to the imprint’s social media plans. For Young it is a “very strategic” and “really excitingly innova- tive” project. She adds: “I think it will change and evolve as the market changes. Without


2


making it sound clichéd, we want to lead the trends and not follow them, and listen to readers in a way that FairyLoot has.” The books selected for FairyLoot’s subscrip-


tion boxes are often chosen a year, if not more, ahead of publication. De Gomery and her team, like publishers, predict the tropes and themes that will be popular in the future. This has, so far, been hugely successful. A FairyLoot box can rocket authors to the pinnacle of the best- seller charts and has helped supercharge the careers of debut and established authors from Georgia Summers to Cassandra Clare. “I’m an oracle,” de Gomery laughs. Young quips: “I don't think she’s joking there.”


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