Bloomsbury grows its UK sales team as Roche joins from S&S

Joe Roche is to join Bloomsbury as UK sales head of fiction next month as the publisher expands its adult trade sales team. Helen Ward is promoted to the team’s head of non-fiction and cookery for consumer and special interest titles.

Roche will join the company in the newly created role on 19th April. He makes the move from Simon & Schuster where he has been a senior key account manager for the past six years, working as part of the digital and then high street sales teams. He played an integral part in launching literary break-out titles, including Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 and debut thrillers such as Falling. He is credited with implementing sustained growth strategies for brand authors such as Santa Montefiore and Philippa Gregory.

He said: “I’m thrilled to be taking on this new role at Bloomsbury and to have the opportunity to shape the sales strategy for their amazing fiction list of established bestsellers and powerful new voices. In recent years Bloomsbury has been publishing some of the most exciting and important literature being written today  and I can’t wait to be a part of that. They are a publisher I’ve admired for the longest time.”

Ward’s promotion also sees her take up a newly created role. Previously senior sales manager, she has been at Bloomsbury for five years and has been responsible for securing retail space for authors including Rutger Bregman, Gino D’Acampo, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Johann Hari, Tom Kerridge and Lisa Taddeo.

“I am delighted to be stepping into this new role which will enable me to drive sales of Bloomsbury’s outstanding non-fiction and cookery lists through all of our UK retailers," she said. "I can’t wait to get started."

Both will report to UK adult sales director Sarah Knight, who said she was “incredibly excited" to have Roche and Ward taking up these roles. 

“Joe and Helen have a truly impressive wealth of knowledge between them and their expertise, energy and focus will be invaluable in informing our strategy and building sustained growth across our lists," she said. “We head in to an exceptionally strong year of publishing across our fiction, non-fiction and illustrated divisions.”