Jones departs S&S triggering department restructure

Toby Jones has left his role as Simon & Schuster’s group marketing and publicity director after 18 months.

The move has triggered a restructure of the marketing and publicity department at S&S, with Emma Harrow, formerly head of publicity, promoted to marketing and publicity director, adult publishing, with immediate effect.

Jones joined S&S in July 2015 after leaving Penguin in 2013 to go travelling.

An email about his departure from chief executive Ian Chapman to staff said: “Since joining in 2015 to oversee the Adult and Children's Marketing and Publicity departments, Toby has brought to the company a wealth of knowledge, new ideas and experience from his time at Channel 4, Fox and Penguin.  During his time here, he has overseen several of Simon & Schuster UK's most prominent campaigns for major authors including Bruce Springsteen and Graham Swift, successfully devised our digital strategy and built a team of talented marketeers and publicists.

“We know that Toby will be missed and we thank him for all that he has contributed over the past two years. We wish him every happiness and success in the future.”

Jones himself told The Bookseller he was looking forward to his “next creative challenge”.

Harrow will now have overall responsibility for S&S’s adult marketing, publicity and communications activities, reporting to Chapman with a dotted line into Suzanne Baboneau, managing director, Adult Publishing Division. Dawn Burnett, S&S adult marketing director, will also report to Harrow.

Chapman said: “Emma joined Simon & Schuster UK in 2006 as senior press officer. Thus she has over ten years’ excellent experience with the company, a deep knowledge and passion for our list and has worked with many of our key authors, from Rhonda Byrne, for which she won the PPC Award for her work promoting The Secret, to Philippa Gregory."

Harrow will be returning to work one a day a week from 6th February until 31st March, when her current maternity leave will come to an end.

Coinciding with Harrow’s promotion, Hayley McMullan has been promoted to S&S senior marketing manager, continuing to report to Burnett, and Jamie Criswell has been promoted to the position of senior press officer.

Meanwhile, Gemma Conley-Smith will join the publisher on 12th February in the position of publicity manager from Little, Brown where she campaigned titles across several imprints including Piatkus and Orbit.

“With experience spanning both fiction and non-fiction, Gemma has worked with a range of authors including Jenny Colgan, Iain Banks, Claire North and M.R. Carey, and will be an excellent addition to the department,” Chapman said.

Publicist Sam Evans will also be leaving the company at the end of January after joining in 2014, to go freelance.

“Unfailingly composed, she has worked on a range of campaigns that have pushed our books into the limelight: Max Mosley’s autobiography, the Ted series, Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms and The Phantom Atlas to name but a few,” Chapman said. “While she’ll be missed deeply here, we wish her the very best in her new freelance career.”