Swannell promoted as Headline reorganises communications team

Headline has reorganised its communications team following the departure of marketing director Viviane Basset to Quarto last month. Louise Swannell moves up to the role of communications director and will oversee both the Publicity and Marketing teams.  

Fergus Edmondson, who has been head of marketing at Cornerstone, has been appointed Headline’s new marketing director and will join the company in February 2020. Meanwhile, Caitlin Raynor has been promoted to publicity director. Both will report into Swannell.

Edmondson has been at Cornerstone since 2016, where he worked on authors and campaigns including Robert Harris, Michael Palin, #Merky Books, Daisy Jones & The Six, and Eskiboy by Wiley which won the highly commended award for Marketing Strategy of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2018.

Fergus Edmonson and Caitlin Raynor

Edmondson said: “I’ve had a wonderful three years at Cornerstone working with fantastic authors and hugely talented colleagues who I admire greatly. I’m now delighted to be taking on this new role at Headline, a publisher I’ve always been a huge fan of. I can’t wait to get started.”

Managing director Mari Evans added: “I’m thrilled Fergus will be joining Headline in the New Year – his experience at Cornerstone, where he’s worked on some of their highest profile non-fiction launches as well as imaginative campaigns for ongoing fiction brands, makes him a perfect fit for us. I cannot wait to see how his highly creative approach to marketing will benefit our publishing in new and exciting ways, especially at a time when we are also expanding our Non-fiction output with the arrival of Iain MacGregor.

“I’m confident that with Louise at the helm of one new team and Fergus and Caitlin in place to head up their specialist areas, we will enjoy real dynamism in our Marketing and Publicity. Caitlin has long been the talented publicist behind significant brand campaigns for Victoria Hislop, Neil Gaiman and Alison Weir, among many others, and I’m delighted we are also promoting her within this new structure.”