Brookes leaves Pan Mac after 14 years

Wayne Brookes, associate publisher for Pan Fiction, has decided to leave Pan Macmillan at the end of the year to explore new opportunities and take more time with his family.

Brookes said: "As most of my close friends and colleagues know, the last two years have proven to be extremely challenging for me on a personal level. However, it’s those challenges that made me sit up and take stock of life and realise what really is important.

"I’m very proud of my authors and all the books I have published in collaboration with them. And I am also grateful to, and proud of, the fantastic team at Pan Macmillan. Bestsellers are a team effort and in the words of Tina Turner, the Pan Mac team are ’Simply The Best’. I will be back in publishing in the not-too-distant future, so watch this space."

Speaking about Brookes’s achievements over the past 14 years at Pan Macmillan, adult managing director, Jeremy Trevathan, said: "Wayne has been a fantastic publisher, beloved by his authors and colleagues alike.

"When he joined us in 2010, he brought with him a commercial sensibility for mass market fiction that was transformational for us. His bestselling novels over the last 14 years, include, of course, Peter James’s multiple No.1 bestselling crime novels, and other groundbreaking, best-selling new fiction such as Jessica Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive, Greer Hendricks’ and Sarah Pekkanen’s The Wife Between Us, Diane Chamberlain’s The Silent Sister, Jonathan Harvey’s The Girl Who Just Appeared, Lulu Taylor’s The Snow Rose and Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter.

"It’s a testament to Wayne’s eclectic taste that he has also overseen some of Pan’s most successful saga fiction and gritty women’s gangland crime fiction from authors such as Rita Bradshaw through to Jacqui Rose.

"Wayne will be missed by many of us for his irrepressible energy and humour. He leaves with all our good wishes for the future."

Brookes can be contacted at wayne251068@gmail.com.