Anova to rebrand as Pavilion

Anova Books is to be rebranded as Pavilion following the buyout of the company by chief executive Polly Powell [pictured].

The company, which will unveil its new branding and look at the London Book Fair, will also move its offices to Bloomsbury this summer.

Powell acquired Anova Books, which specialises in illustrated books, last year. As well as becoming the name of the company, the Pavilion imprint within the company will also be expanded.

Powell said: “The Pavilion name and imprint, already within our portfolio and with good recognition amongst customers, has always stood for quality, quirkiness and cutting-edge. So it seemed only natural to concentrate our efforts around the Pavilion name.
It also gives us much more flexibility to grow the business online, digitally, and to customers.”

The Collins & Brown imprint will only publish backlist titles; its forward-publishing programme will move to the bigger Pavilion imprint. Powell said: “The craft books currently being published under the Collins & Brown imprint have really raised the game and already exude all the design and production values so associated with Pavilion.”

The Good Housekeeping books will also be brought into the Pavilion umbrella under publisher Katie Cowan, alongside cookery, craft and lifestyle publishing.

The heritage hub lists of Batsford, Conway and National Trust Books, under publisher Tina Persaud, will continue as stand-alone publishing imprints.

Powell said: “A particular strength of the company has always been the ability to publish successfully into the heritage market and we are putting additional focused sales and marketing effort behind this important part of our business”.

Pavilion will relocate from its West Kensington offices to the Bloomsbury area over the summer, as the current office is “really in the wrong part of town for what we do”.

A party to celebrate the rebranding will be held at the Old Magistrates Court, where Pavilion’s offices currently are, on the first day of London Book Fair.

Powell acquired Anova Books in December 2013 from fellow directors Robin Wood and David Proffitt, with whom she founded the company in 2005.

The company had a “challenging” period from mid-2012 to mid-2013, which it put down to the time around the Olympics when a lack of footfall to heritage sites and in the capital affected sales.

Earlier this month it announced it had joined Faber Factory Plus for its UK trade sales.