Borough Press makes promotions, hires Ainley

HarperCollins fiction imprint The Borough Press has made several changes to its editorial team, hiring Holly Ainley as commissioning editor.

Ainley joins The Borough Press from Myriad Editions where she was editor, but left after last month. Ainley replaces Cassie Browne, who has recently moved to Quercus Fiction as its new publisher.

The publisher said: “Holly brings with her a keen editorial eye, a real flair for publishing and an innate understanding of the industry as a whole.”

Borough Press has also promoted Charlotte Cray to editor from assistant editor. While continuing to assist on new Borough Press titles, Cray will also take on a greater responsibility for the imprint’s “public face”, including its website and social media presence. The company is also hiring for a new editorial assistant.

Finally, publicity director Ann Bissell will take on an expanded role which combines publicity with commissioning titles.

The publisher said: “Ann will continue to play a key role at Borough as publicity director but will now add a commissioning brief to her role where her verve, excellent taste and innovative approach will be invaluable."

Ainley said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the team at The Borough Press, and at the prospect of discovering and building new literary talent as part of an imprint with such an impressive reputation. I can't wait to get started, working on and developing this dynamic, high-quality list.”

Bissell said: "I have had the privilege of creating publicity campaigns for some of Borough’s most exciting authors, and in my new role I’ll be looking to commission not only brilliant writing, but to discover authors with an amazing story of their own. I’m looking for books that the media want to talk about, booksellers want to sell, and readers want to read."

Suzie Dooré, publishing director of The Borough Press, added that since its launch in January 2014, the imprint had "gone from strength to strength".

"I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can achieve next," she said. "Each of us brings something different into the mix; Charlotte and Ann are already prized colleagues, and Holly’s success and experience in the field of independent publishing make her a perfect fit for the team.”

Dooré moved from Hodder & Stoughton to HarperCollins last September replacing Katie Espiner as publishing director of The Borough Press. Espiner took up the role of m.d at Orion last year.