Ru Merritt promoted at Orion

Ru Merritt has been promoted to the position of commissioning editor with immediate effect, Orion announced this week.

Since joining the business in 2017, Merritt has moved from project editorial into commissioning across both Orion Spring for health and wellness, and Seven Dials for entertainment, food and drink, and true-life stories.

On Seven Dials she has acquired lead publications in Zack George’s Start Where Others Stop, Pasta Evangelists’ Perfect Pasta at Home and new titles for the 10 Things You Should Know series: Dinosaurs by Dr Dean Lomax and Time by Colin Stuart. She has also driven backlist growth with successful re-positioning of existing authors such as Dave Pelzer and Justine Pattison, and brought a host of new IP projects to the list. On Orion Spring she has overseen rebrands of existing authors, created IP projects such as the Astrosex series, and acquired major talent yet to be announced.

Pippa Wright and Vicky Eribo, publishing directors of Orion Spring and Seven Dials respectively, said: "We are so happy to see Ru deservedly promoted to commissioning editor. She is a commercial powerhouse, with superb market awareness and proven talent-spotting instincts. Ru joined our imprints before we did and has been a supportive and collaborative team member through a period of rapid transition and growth. Our commercial successes in 2020 owe a great deal to her talent and hard work."

Merritt said: "I’m absolutely thrilled to be taking this next step. The past year has been immensely exciting for both imprints and, in my mind, we’re only just getting started! I can’t wait to continue building my list and bring to readers the very best commercial non-fiction."