Mahey-Morgan to leave PRH

Penguin Random House’s Crystal Mahey-Morgan is to leave the company this week to work as a freelancer specialising in “traditionally hard to reach audiences”.

Mahey-Morgan has been group online/digital account manager at the company, looking after digital accounts such as Apple and Google, for almost three years. During her five and a half years at PRH – she worked for Random House before the two publishers merged in 2013 – she was also responsible for the creative strategy for Jamal Edwards’ book Self Belief: The Vision (Virgin Books), which was initially released a series of digital e-books.

Mahey-Morgan, whose previous roles include being a literary assistant at PFD, said she was leaving PRH because it “now feels like time for a change”.

“I'm passionate about the publishing industry engaging new audiences and offering a more progressive experience when it comes to diversity,” she continued. “As a working class BAME woman with over six years solid industry experience across contracts, marketing, sales and digital, I feel I have a unique contribution to make to our industry and I'm excited about what lies ahead.

“With an ever-changing digital landscape, there's an opportunity for books to be established as another form of entertainment amongst a non-traditional reading audience, which as book people we need to seize with both hands.

“I will be setting up as a freelancer offering creative strategy, digital marketing and contract consultancy working across a wide range of books and campaigns but specialising in traditionally hard to reach audiences.”

Mahey-Morgan’s last day at PRH is tomorrow (Friday 17th October).