University of Leeds

Book presentation coach - "The Book Pitch Doctor". Publisher, Literary Agent, Founder of The Spare Room Project

London, England, United Kingdom

I coach book-trade people, in "Book Pitch Doctor" presentation workshops, online and in person.I founded The Spare Room Project, which helps London publishers offer free accommodation to interns and job-seekers from out of town.I am a third of The bks Agency, along with Jason Bartholomew and Jessica Killingley.I work with Profile Books as Publisher of Pursuit, a cycling imprint.

Self-employed

Founder, Pursuit Agency Limited

Responsible for a £4m+ division of Osprey GroupMade transition to independent ownership Balancing the needs of two imprints, covering MBS and cookeryFinancial planning and management of the division, with Group CFOOManaging a 20+ workforce in the London office with staff in New York and SydneyKey achievements at WatkinsTransforming the business model from deal-centric coeditions to consumer-driven publishingShaping a new team culture: an open, collaborative meritocracyManaging a tough yet effective restructure of senior rolesIntroducing professional publishing and financial systemsLaunching a successful customer-facing food and drink brand (Nourish)Developing a truly strategic approach to publishing within the teamOverseeing development of a product mix including apps and online coursesManaging major changes in key commercial relationships: UK and US distributors, UK and Export sales teamsManaging a successful office move and a change of ownership

Watkins Publishing

Managing Director

Overseeing sales to high street and online retailers for the Hodder & Stoughton and John Murray listsResponsibility for over half of all Hodder & JM UK salesManaging a team of three direct reports and a wider team of eightShaping Business Unit strategy, as well as strategy for John Murray and SceptreKey role in acquisitions, budgeting, cover briefing, copy and author pitchesResponsibility for ebook commercial strategyPersonally managing business with Waterstones, Audible, Kobo and Apple Leading Hodder's autumn sales conference

Hodder & Stoughton and John Murray

Sales and Trade Marketing Director

Overall responsibility for sales and marketing for the John Murray and Sceptre lists, working closely with the Hodder & Stoughton sales teamResponsibility for hitting sales budgets on both listsCentral role shaping divisional strategy, including digital strategyCentral role in acquisitions and idea development, author pitches, copy and design decisionsManaging key accounts (Waterstones, Amazon, WHSmith, Borders) and overseeing work by Hodder supermarket and export teamsKey achievements at Hodder, John Murray and Sceptre:Creating "Hodderesque" - a social media comms channel to Waterstones booksellers, with an impressive sales impactRadical overhauls of JM cover briefing and author pitching systemsLeading internal culture shift at Hodder towards online sales, focusing marketing and editorial effort into Amazon in particularRaising the standard of sales presentations with 'Pitch Doctor' projectBuilding Chris Cleave's brand, taking The Other Hand past 1/2 million sales, and relaunching IncendiaryCreating <a href="http://james-frey.com">james-frey.com</a> – with over 10k reader comments, one of the most widely used author sites, and part of a successful drive to maintain Frey’s salesLaunching a new strategy of innovation at Sceptre, focusing particularly on unconventional communication and industry-leading copywritingDeveloping copywriting work into a widely praised Bookseller Seminar talk and contribution to a Radio 4 pieceInitiating the BMS book copy awardsTaking a key role in creating bestsellers by authors including Chris Ryan, Jean Auel, John Grisham, David Nicholls, David MitchellSurviving "The Sunnyside Controversy"

John Murray & Sceptre

Sales and Marketing Director

Marketing fiction and non fiction, including campaigns for Jonathan Strange & Mister Norrell by Susanna Clarke and The Little Friend by Donna Tartt and input on Harry Potter campaigns.

James Spackman