New appointments for Quarto's White Lion Publishing imprint

Quarto has made several new appointments to its new London-based trade imprint, White Lion Publishing.

The moves follow the reorganisation of Quarto's UK-based trade imprints which consolidated Aurum Press, Frances Lincoln and Quintessence, into one, with group publisher Richard Green at the helm. 

Jessica Axe (pictured), currently UK campaigns director, Adults, has been appointed as associate publisher for White Lion Publishing following an internal recruitment process. Quarto said its management team had been impressed by Axe's "ideas, transferrable skills and knowledge of the market".

She joined Quarto in 2012 as publicity director and became campaigns director for Quarto Publishing Group UK in 2013, in which she led marketing campaigns for hundreds of titles. In her new role, she will report to group publisher Richard Green, alongside publishers Kerry Enzor and Philip Cooper. Quarto is now recruiting for Axe's replacement. 

Joe Hallsworth, currently assistant editor for Jacqui Small Publishing, has also joined the White Lion Publishing team and has been promoted to project editor. Hallsworth started at Quarto as an intern and joined Jacqui Small in 2015. The appointment follows the foreseen closure of the list after group publisher Jacqui Small announced she was preparing to step down from her full time role last year.

Emma Harverson, most recently junior editor for Aurum Press, has been promoted to project editor for White Lion Publishing, while Stacey Cleworth, currently sales and marketing support officer, is moving from Quarto’s UK sales team to join White Lion Publishing as content assistant. She will start with White Lion Publishing as soon as a transition plan has been agreed, according to Quarto.

Green, group publisher, said: “We are genuinely delighted that vacancies at White Lion Publishing have been filled by internal applicants. This shows the strength and depth of the Quarto team and our commitment to providing opportunities for people to develop their careers within the group. We all wish Jessica, Joe, Emma and Stacey success in their new roles.”

The White Lion Publishing team is made up of 22 people. It includes all previous staff of Quintessence, Frances Lincoln and Aurum Press, with the exception of one voluntary redundancy and one redundancy incurred by the consolidation. Books are due to be released under the new White Lion Publishing brand from September 2018. 

Last week, the Bookseller reported that four people were made redundant from the foreign rights team based in Quarto's Brighton office.