Hearst partners with W H Smith on Big Book awards

Magazine publisher Hearst UK has secured a retail partnership with W H Smith for its Big Book awards and accreditation initative.

The partnership with the retailer will see a selection of the Big Book shortlisted titles on sale in over 400 UK stores with clearly identifiable Big Book point-of-sale materials and in-store promotions.

Alex Call, head of books marketing at W H Smith, said: “W H Smith prides itself on being the home of reassurance and recommendation, and by partnering with Hearst UK on the Big Book initiative we can offer our consumers a range of books we know they will love.”

The publisher also revealed the Big Book shortlist, which features titles from Bloomsbury, HarperCollins, Oneworld and Pan Macmillan.

Selected members of Hearst’s Reader Panel – an online engagement platform consisting of 10,000 Hearst consumers – reviewed the submitted books, and then the top scoring of these were judged by the editors of the nine participating Hearst brands: Women’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Prima, Red, Esquire, Men’s Health, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s Bazaar.

The final shortlist consists of 36 books in categories ranging from Crime to Women Writers, Biography and Wellbeing.

Judith Secombe, managing director of Hearst Brand Services, said: "One in three UK adults who purchased a book over the last 12 months were Hearst consumers, so our partnership with W H Smith is a natural fit. I am confident that the recognition awarded by Big Book will amplify awareness and drive sales for the titles shortlisted, and I can’t wait to announce the winners later this year.”

The full list of shortlisted titles is:

Cosmopolitan – Must Reads
Clean, Juno Dawson (Hachette)
The Queen of Bloody Everything, Joanna Nadin (Pan Macmillan)
I Stop Somewhere, T E Carter (Simon & Schuster UK)

Elle – Women Writers
Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury)
Circe, Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury)
A Beginner’s Guide to Being Mental, Natasha Devon (Pan Macmillan)
Ponti, Sharlene Teo (Pan Macmillan)
 
Esquire – Biography
Nevertheless, Alec Baldwin (HarperCollins)
This is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay (Pan Macmillan)
No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson, Jeff Sparrow (Scribe UK)
 
Good Housekeeping – Crime
Bring Me Back, B.A. Paris (HarperCollins)
While You Sleep, Stephanie Merritt (HarperCollins)
Dark Pines, Will Dean (Oneworld)
Girl in Snow, Danya Kukafka (Pan Macmillan)
 
Harper’s Bazaar – Modern Classic
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Schaffer & Annie Barrows (Bloomsbury)
The Penelopiad, Margert Atwood (Canongate Books)
My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem (Oneworld)
 
Men’s Health – Health and Lifestyle
The Angry Chef, Anthony Warner (Oneworld)
The Fat Loss Plan, Joe Wicks (Pan Macmillan)
The Stranger on the Bridge, Jonny Benhamin and Britt Pfuger (Pan Macmillan)
 
Prima – Page Turners
Grace after Henry, Eithne Shortall (Corvus)
The Light We Lost, Jill Santopolo (HarperCollins)
The Fear, C L Taylor (HarperCollins)
The Wife Between Us, Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (Pan Macmillan)
 
Red – Children 0-6
Where’s Mr Dog, Ingela P Arrhenius (Nosy Crow)
What The Ladybird Heard on Holiday, Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks (Pan Macmillan)
Izzy Gizmo, Pip Jones and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Simon & Schuster UK)
 
Red – Children 7-12
Nevermoor, Jessica Townsend (Hachette)
The Phantom Lollipop Man!, Pamela Butchart (Nosy Crow)
Never Say Die, Anthony Horowitz (Walker)
 
Red – Smart Women
Bored and Brilliant, Manoush Zomorodi (Pan Macmillan)
Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life, Francesca Gino
 
Women’s Health – Wellbeing
The Wellness Rebel, Pixie Turner (Head of Zeus)
Hormonal, Martie Haselton (Oneworld)
Solo: The Joy of Cooking For One, Signe Johansen (Pan Macmillan)
East by West, Jasmine Hemsley (Pan Macmillan)