Baker promoted to Octopus group digital director and joins board

Melissa Baker has been promoted to Octopus Publishing Group’s board as group digital director, reporting to m.d. Anna Bond.

Baker began her career as editorial assistant in 2007 at Sphere, in the Little, Brown Book Group, working on commercial non-fiction. In 2010 she joined Tindal Street Press as editorial and operations manager before the press was sold to Profile in 2012.

From there, she joined John Murray Learning and in 2019 moved to Octopus Publishing Group, where as head of digital she has “galvanised the business to embrace digital publishing, leading to huge sales growth, with revenue having more than doubled since 2019”.

Alice Groser has also been promoted from digital assistant editor to digital editor, having joined the company in January 2020.

Bond said: “Melissa’s promotion recognises the digital innovation that she is leading within Octopus including publishing and platforms. I am delighted to promote her onto the Octopus board and to ensure that digital thinking is included in all of our decision making as we grow our business.”

Baker added: “Octopus Publishing Group has seen excellent growth in digital sales in the past few years. That’s a testament to the wonderful books we’ve been lucky enough to publish and the hard work and enthusiasm with which the whole business has embraced digital publishing. I’m looking forward to building on that from within the board and with my excellent colleague Alice Groser, whose promotion is richly deserved.”