Amberley Publishing acquires Icon Books

Icon Books has been acquired by Amberley Publishing for an undisclosed sum. 
Amberley said the acquisition would “provide a strong addition to Amberley’s existing non-fiction catalogue” and follows its acquisition of Quiller Publishing for £1.4m in June 2021.

Icon Books was bought by Jonathan Ball Publishers in April 2020 and Amberley said this acquisition follows detailed discussions on working closely together.

It said no major initial changes are planned, with remaining Icon staff continuing to work as a separate entity while “integration of back-office functions will occur as soon as possible”. Icon and its imprints will be independent imprints within Amberley.

Amberley c.e.o. Nick Hayward said: “This is a very exciting moment in the life of Amberley and reflects the amazingly hard work that our wonderful team has put in over recent years. I have worked with Eugene Ashton [chairman of Icon Books] and the team at Jonathan Ball for many years and have a huge respect for them and what they have achieved. I am sure many UK publishers will agree with these sentiments. The chance of working closely together going forward is very appealing. The owners have shown great faith in the Amberley team and we are all looking forward to working with the team at Icon.”

Ashton added: “We bought Icon at the start of the pandemic, not the best time to enter a market, but Philip Cotterell and the team managed through the crisis and have got us the stage where the prospects for the business are very positive. I have every confidence in the Nick Hayward and the Amberley team and know that this will be a very good home for Icon and its authors, and look forward to working with Amberley in the future.”