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Jack Butler leaves Wildfire to replace Ed Wood as Sphere Fiction publishing director
Jack Butler will be leaving Wildfire to join Little, Brown as publishing director for Sphere Fiction following Ed Wood’s departure for the Blair Partnership.
Reporting to Sphere Fiction executive publisher Lucy Malagoni, he will start his new role on 3rd February, and will be acquiring and publishing across crime and thriller genres, working with some of Sphere’s biggest brand authors.
Butler is currently fiction publisher for the Wildfire imprint at Headline, overseeing Wildfire’s commercial fiction list and publishing authors such as Harriet Tyce, Chris Hammer, Asia Mackay, Rachel Abbott, James Oswald and ML Rio.
He has published multiple Sunday Times bestsellers, novels that have been shortlisted or have won some of the most respected awards and accolades in crime and thriller fiction.
After starting his publishing career at HarperCollins, he had a stint at Endeavour Press and then Amazon Publishing as the lead UK editor for crime and thriller and science fiction and fantasy, publishing digital bestsellers such as Mark Edwards, Claire McGowan and John Marrs.
Butler said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining the hugely impressive team at Sphere Fiction. I have admired their entrepreneurial approach to publishing for a long time. It was clear from the first moment I met the Sphere editorial team that we shared the same values and drive to deliver for authors and I’m honoured to have the opportunity to add to this.”
He continued: “My time at Wildfire and Headline has been equally fulfilling and exhilarating, and I want to thank them for their support and encouragement. I am fortunate to have worked with some of the most talented, kind and collaborative authors and colleagues I have ever met. I will miss them immensely and wish them the very best.”
Malagoni said: “From our very first meeting I was immediately struck by Jack’s dynamic, creative, forward-thinking and thoughtful approach to publishing. I am thrilled to be welcoming him to the Sphere fiction team as we look forward to an exciting 2025, and I have no doubt that Jack will be pivotal in driving our success over the coming years.”
It was announced last month that Wood was leaving Little, Brown to join the Blair Partnership as a fiction agent and director of fiction development.
