Former PRH publicity director Finnigan launches own company

Emma Finnigan, previously William Heinemann and Windmill publicity director at Penguin Random House, has launched her own PR agency: Emma Finnigan PR.   

The new venture will offer PR services for books and the arts in the UK, Ireland and, in conjunction with a partner, Australia. In addition to PR, Finnigan will offer author coaching and has teamed up with a UK communications agency to offer "digital solutions" for authors, including web design.

Finnigan left Cornerstone two weeks ago. She launched her career at Orion in 1999, joining Penguin Random House in 2007 where she stayed for almost 10 years in the role of publicity director for William Heinemann and Windmill.

Working across fiction and non-fiction, in 2015 Finnigan was co-PR on the campaign for Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, and her projects this year included the pre-publicity and launch of Ed Balls’ autobiography, Speaking Out: Lessons in Life and Politics.

Other authors Finnigan has worked with include crime brands James Ellroy, Harlan Coben, Kathy Reichs, Donna Leon and Don Winslow, Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, Belle de Jour (The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl), winner of the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize Andrea Wulf, and literary names from Alice Walker to Michel Houellebecq, Lauren Groff and Douglas Coupland. 

Finnigan told The Bookseller: "I just wanted a new challenge; I've been in-house for almost 20 years. I thought, actually, the bit I love is meeting the authors, actually doing the PR, setting up the campaigns, so I thought, hopefully, this will give me more opportunities to make that the whole focus."

She added: "My background is in book PR but, hopefully, I'll expand into other things down the line, which will be exciting too."

Finnigan is contactable at her new website, www.emmafinniganpr.co.uk. She has been replaced at PRH by Kate McQuaid, who joined Cornerstone from Faber & Faber on 5th September.