Boldwood marks first birthday with new appointments and authors

Boldwood Books is marking its first birthday with three new authors and two extra team members, including the arrival of Emily Ruston (pictured) as editorial director.

The indie was launched by Amanda Ridout in 2019 with the remit of globally publishing commercial fiction in e-book, audio and print on demand simultaneously and has become profitable in its first year of trading, Ridout confirmed, passing the milestone of one million books sold.

Ruston arrives at the company having worked with bestselling books at publishers including Bookouture, HarperFiction, HQ, Bonnier Books UK and Mills & Boon. She will be acquiring and publishing across the commercial fiction genres but with special focus on crime and thriller writers. She said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Boldwood team as they celebrate their one-year anniversary. Dynamic and creative, they have published some wonderful books this year and I can’t wait to find more amazing authors to add to their brilliant list.”

Eleanor Foot, who has previously worked in digital marketing and interned for Rydon Publishing, is also joining as marketing assistant with special responsibility for social media activity.

Meanwhile the acquisition of three new writers brings Boldwood's burgeoning author list up to 41. All three have been contracted on multi-book deals and will be published in every format simultaneously in all English-language territories.

Lizzie Lane is a bestselling saga writer of over 50 novels. She was born and bred in Bristol where many of her family worked in the cigarette and cigar factories, something which inspired her new saga series for Boldwood, The Tobacco Girls, the first part of which will be published in January 2021.

Sian O’Gorman writes Irish woman’s fiction alongside her work as a radio producer. Her fourth novel, Life After You, will be published by Boldwood in September 2020. Her three backlist books, previously released by Aria, will also be published then.

Third author Owen Mullen is a crime writer with seven books to his name. His first gangland thriller for Boldwood, Family, will be published in January 2021.

Ridout said: “We are celebrating our first publishing birthday with many milestones achieved. We have built a publishing list of over 40 authors and have sold over one million books across e-book, audio and print formats all over the globe in the last 12 months. We have become profitable in our first year of trading. And now we are expanding our team to build our business further and are thrilled to welcome the talented Emily Ruston to the company and to have Ellie Foot to increase our social media presence.

“I also want to thank everyone in the Boldwood team and all our authors; our retail and distribution partners worldwide; the agent community; Ulverscroft, our audio partner, and every one of our industry friends for making such a successful first year possible. We couldn’t have done it without their help, support and dedication and we look forward to an exciting future together.”