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Bradley and Ashby step up in raft of HarperFiction promotions
Kate Bradley and Martha Ashby have been promoted to publishing directors at HarperFiction, while Charlotte Brabbin and Lucy Stewart are also stepping up.
The publisher said Bradley, previously editorial director, had delivered a new summer bestselling brand in TV personality Carol Kirkwood with her novels Under a Greek Moon and The Hotel on the Riviera. She has also built successful brand partnerships with Quality Street and ITV’s “Coronation Street”, alongside developing Cressida McLaughlin’s Cornish Cream Tea series.
Editorial director Ashby has built on her success as the acquiring editor for international bestseller Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, acquiring and publishing Sunday Times bestsellers A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting, Mammy Banter and Saving Missy. She also developed General Fiction’s new mentoring scheme for under-represented romance writers, Re(Presenting) Romance, in partnership with the Good Literary Agency.
In addition to their acquiring briefs, both will help shape the strategy for the General Fiction list with publisher Lynne Drew, focusing on the popular and book club fiction areas.
Brabbin is promoted to editorial director. HarperCollins said she had “been an essential part” of the publishing behind many of General Fiction’s biggest bestsellers, including Lucy Foley and Dawn O’Porter. This year she has been responsible for publishing bestseller The Maid by Nita Prose, Lucy Clarke’s One of the Girls and Bollinger Wodehouse shortlistee Sarah Lotz’s Impossible. She will “continue to look for outstanding new voices to bring to the list”.
Former assistant editor Stewart is promoted to editor. The publisher said: “Lucy Stewart’s 18 months with the General Fiction team have shown not only outstanding editorial and author care skills but also a great eye for romcoms”. She made her first acquisitions with Niamh Hargan’s Kindle bestseller Twelve Days in May and US romcom A Merry Little Meet Cute. She will continue to work on many of the list’s biggest brands while starting to develop her own list of titles.
The promoted team will continue to report to Drew, who said: “We are lucky enough to have an amazing list of authors – but also to have an outstanding editorial team helping to reach the widest possible range of readers. As the list builds towards the future, I’m thrilled to see Kate, Martha, Charlotte and Lucy stepping up into new roles to help drive our publishing. I can’t wait to see what they do.”
The team has also hired a new editorial assistant, Meg Le Huquet, who joins from Collins Learning on 17th October.
