Hodder & Stoughton poaches HarperCollins' Lydia Good

Hodder & Stoughton has appointed Lydia Good as publishing director for Yellow Kite.  

Good is currently publishing director of Thorsons, IP and Gift at HarperCollins. She will join Hodder in late November, reporting to Kirty Topiwala, executive publisher for non-fiction. 

Good will take on managerial and strategic responsibility for the commissioning team at Yellow Kite, including Nicky Ross, Carolyn Thorne and Nicole Thomas.  

Good will work alongside Susannah Otter, publishing director for non-fiction, who also reports to Topiwala. Otter will also take on the leadership of the boutique non-fiction imprint Catalyst, which will continue to specialise in platform-based publishing. 

Hodder & Stoughton said: “During her time at HarperCollins, Good has overseen the strategy and acquisitions for Thorsons, publishing a string of successful and varied titles including brand partnerships with Cadbury and Baileys, The Little Book of Sloth Philosophy by Jennifer McCartney, JoyFull by Radhi Devlukia-Shetty, Good Energy by Dr Casey Means and the What’s for Dinner? series from Sarah Rossi. She has also managed backlist brand authors such as Paulo Coelho and Robin Sharma.”  

Good said: ‘I will hugely miss my colleagues at Harper NonFiction and the teams I’ve worked with over the past seven years, but I know that working with Kirty, Susannah and the brilliant Yellow Kite team will be an exciting and inspiring next step.  

“Yellow Kite has an outstanding reputation for lifestyle and personal development publishing, and I’m looking forward to being a part of the creative and collaborative energy at Hodder & Stoughton.” 

Topiwala said: “I’m so delighted that Lydia has agreed to join us and lead Yellow Kite into its next chapter. Lydia is entrepreneurial and creative but also has great commercial instincts and forensic attention to detail, and I can’t wait to see what she does with the list.”