Head of Zeus hires booksellers to lead new sales team

Head of Zeus has established its own sales team to sell and market its books to independent and high street booksellers across the UK from the beginning of September.

The three new recruits all hail from bookshops.

Jon Small will be joining Head of Zeus to sell in the southern territory. He is currently duty manager at the Foyles branch in Birmingham and was previously a sales representative for Orion for 14 years. The publisher said: "He brings with him a wealth of experience and a reputation for strong customer relations".

Chrissy Ryan, formerly of Primrose Hill bookshop in North London, will join the independent publisher to manage the London territory. Head of Zeus praised Ryan for having "strong communication skills in an independent environment".

Meanwhile Ian Macbeth has been recruited to sell in to Scotland and Northern UK. He has most recently been manager of the independent Golden Hare Bookshop in Edinburgh and before that spent 10 years as a bookseller in Scotland.

The three new recruits join UK sales manager Jennifer Edgecombe to form a "dynamic and determined" UK sales team focusing on developing the Head of Zeus business with independent bookshops and high street retailers and "maximising opportunities" for the Head of Zeus and Apollo lists.

Dan Groenewald, Head of Zeus sales director, said: "In these times of sales force consolidation it is rewarding to be able to establish a new team of sales people to engage with the independent sector and to do justice to our eclectic and wide-ranging list of titles."