Bloomsbury kicks off biggest campaign to date for Maas

Bloomsbury is rolling out its biggest ever campaign for author Sarah J Maas to celebrate the release of A Court of Silver Flames in paperback. 

Adopting the fan acronym for the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, the publisher has created a UK “Summer of ACOTAR” campaign to reach a fast-growing new audience for the author.

House of Sky and Breath was number one in all books in the UK chart on publication day, and is currently the fourth bestselling title in 2022 in all fiction genres in the Nielsen UK hardback chart. A Court of Silver Flames was also an instant Sunday Times bestseller in hardback. 

The campaign includes large-scale billboards at Gatwick Airport, while advertising on podcasts such as “I Weigh with Jameela Jamil”, “Motherkind”, “Black Girls Livin”, “I’m Absolutely Fine” and “Ladies Who London” will reach 250,000 people, most of them women aged 25 and over, and will see trusted hosts share their own recommendations of the series, the publisher said.

Wide-scale digital advertising will also feature, aiming to be seen by more than two million people, with a special focus on TikTok where Maas is consistently one of the most popular authors. She has more than seven billion views on related hashtags, so Bloomsbury will be running TikTok advertising and partnering with influencer Abbey Kingsland to drive conversation across the platform even further.

Kathleen Farrar, Bloomsbury’s managing director of group sales and marketing, said: “We are delighted to see Sarah’s work reaching a broader audience. Our publishing strategy has pivoted to reach a wide female readership who may not think that the fantasy genre is for them. Fantasy for adults is traditionally seen as a male genre, despite a number of trailblazing women in this space.

"Sarah’s books deliver fast-paced, romantic, satisfying reads with strong heroines at their centre and we’re thrilled to see readers embracing Sarah’s books.”

Maas’ other works include her Crescent City and Throne of Glass series. According to Nielsen BookScan, she has sold just over one million units for £8.7m, with the first Throne of Glass on 121,000 copies and Crown of Midnight following on 71,000. Her books are published in 38 languages.

A Court of Silver Flames is out in paperback now.