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Lucy Hale has been promoted to managing director of Pan as part of Pan Macmillan’s plans to build on growth across the division’s fiction and non-fiction imprints.
The role is brand new, however, Jeremy Trevathan, m.d. for adult publishing, is retiring at the end of March, meaning Hale will report directly to Pan Macmillan c.e.o. Joanna Prior.
Hale began her career at Pan Macmillan working in the export team. She was then at Hachette for 17 years, latterly as deputy c.e.o. of Hodder & Stoughton, John Murray Press, Quercus and Headline before returning to Pan Macmillan as Pan Publisher in 2020.
The Pan division comprises three fiction imprints, Pan Fiction, Tor and Mantle and two non-fiction, Pan Non-Fiction and Macmillan Business, as well as hardback imprint Macmillan, home to fiction and non-fiction.
The publisher said it saw “impressive growth” in 2023 across the whole division, led by commercial fiction successes including Lucinda Riley, David Baldacci, Ann Cleeves and Alexandra Potter and the “explosion” of science fiction and fantasy genre successes at Tor including Cassandra Clare, Olivie Blake and Shelley Parker Chan as well as Mantle’s number one bestseller success with Kate Mosse’s The Ghost Ship.
In addition, Macmillan non-fiction had “strong” Christmas performances with Adrian Edmondson’s Berserker and Chris Kamara’s autobiography Kammy both charting while the newly launched Macmillan Business list made its mark, with Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner’s How Big Things Get Done shortlisting for the FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year.
In 2023, Pan as a whole grew 19% year-on-year through the TCM, the publisher said. Pan fiction sales revenue grew by 31%.
There will be a further five promotions across the editorial teams in 2024: Francesca Pathak is promoted to the newly-created role of publisher, Pan Fiction. Pathak will lead the fiction team and publishing directors Trisha Jackson and Vicki Mellor will report to her. Pathak joined Pan in June 2022 after six years at Orion and prior to that was at Cornerstone. A Bookseller Rising Star in 2019, her authors include David Baldacci, Peter James, Araminta Hall, C L Miller and Ellery Lloyd
Senior commissioning editor Alex Saunders is promoted to editorial director, following a prizewinning year with his authors DV Bishop and Hayley Scrivenor both winning Daggers as well as Robbie Morrison being shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize. Among others, he also publishes Ruth Kelly, who’s second novel The Escape is a current Richard and Judy Book Club pick.
Additionally, Kinza Azira is promoted from assistant editor to commissioning editor having acquired B K Borison, Ally Carter and world rights for titles by Camero Capello and Simone Soltani.
Meanwhile, Maddie Thornham is promoted from editorial assistant to assistant editor. At Tor, fiction publishing director Gillian Green is promoted to publisher alongside Bella Pagan to develop the romantasy, dark fantasy and cosy fantasy areas of the list. Green will continue to publish her general fiction authors on Pan as well as acquiring for Tor. Green joined Pan in April 2020 after 12 years at Penguin Random House. Her authors include Karen Swan, Annie Murray and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Prior said: “As we celebrate 80 years of Pan in 2024, our focus is firmly on the future and how we can build on its recent growth spurt and the momentum and confidence this has unlocked under Lucy’s energetic leadership. With her clear vision for Pan and boundless ambition for its authors, I’m confident that Lucy’s promotion to m.d. will help to deliver even more success in the coming years.”
Hale added: “2023 was a spectacular year for both Pan Fiction and Tor as our sales grew by a third and we celebrated 87 separate appearances in the Sunday Times bestseller list. As part of our plans to accelerate this growth, and as we celebrate Pan’s 80th year, I’m delighted to announce these much-deserved promotions.
“Since joining us only 18 months ago, Fran has reinvigorated our fiction publishing, bringing in exciting new talent including Araminta Hall and Cara Miller, as well as taking on some of Pan’s biggest brands including David Baldacci and, from this year, Peter James.
“Gillian has already brought five new authors to the Tor list including Tiktok sensation Carissa Broadbent and her The Serpent and the Wings of the Night duology. Under the excellent leadership of Bella Pagan, Tor revenue has grown 24% from 2022 to 2023 and grown an average of 34% per year since 2018 and Gillian’s promotion will help us to grow Tor even further. Bella will continue to publish her brilliant brand list including Olivie Blake, Cassandra Clare and Adrian Tchaikovsky.”
The promotions will take place with immediate effect.