Quercus discontinues Heron Books

Heron Books, an imprint of Quercus, is to be discontinued at the end of 2016, the publisher has said.

Heron Books was set up by former HarperCollins publishing director Susan Watt in April 2011, with a remit for "high-quality storytelling" across fiction and non-fiction. Her son, Jon Watt, also worked on the imprint on a freelance capacity and both will leave in March for new opportunities, Quercus said.

Books contracted to Heron, for which Quercus owns the IP, will now be published on the wider Quercus trade list.

The decision was made following a recent restructuring of editorial departments, which saw the appointment of former Canongate publishing director Katy Follain, Quercus editor-in-chief Jon Riley becoming publisher of a new imprint focussed on crime and publishing director Stef Bierwerth promoted to publisher for Quercus Fiction.

Susan Watt, who was formerly publishing director at HarperCollins for 12 years, and before that a publishing director at Michael Joseph, works for HarperCollins part-time. Her son, Jon, will meanwhile be looking for "other opportunities in media", according to Quercus.

Susan Watt said: "Heron Books found a wonderful home at Quercus. Together we successfully published established authors and championed emerging talent. I look forward to watching these gifted authors continue to flourish."

Quercus m.d Jon Butler said: "Heron Books has published a fantastic range of titles from commercial and literary fiction to science and memoir, areas which form the backbone of Quercus’ publishing and to which we are completely committed. But it is difficult to reconcile having a bespoke imprint covering such a broad spectrum of interests, with the recent reorganisation of our editorial departments into more clearly defined areas of expertise and focus.

"Since she founded the imprint in 2011, Susan has brought fantastic authors to Heron – and by extension, to Quercus and we look forward to continuing to publish those authors. Susan and Jon leave with our warmest thanks and very best wishes for their futures."