Tributes paid to 'remarkable and inspirational' publicist Beth Macdougall after death, aged 74

Tributes from across the publishing industry have been paid to Beth Macdougall, former publicity director of Secker & Warburg and Hodder & Stoughton, following her death last month at the age of 74. 

Macdougall began her career as a graduate trainee at Secker & Warburg in 1970 working for publisher Tom Rosenthal and with authors including Saul Bellow, Malcolm Bradbury, David Lodge, Melvyn Bragg and Dudley Pope. She rose to become publicity director. 

In 1983 Secker & Warburg published The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and the Booker Prize-winner The Life and Times of Michael K by J M Coetzee. Struggling with the book’s jacket, Macdougall’s solution was to take a photo of her husband Ian wearing a Jimmy Hendrix-style hat and reproduce the image in negative. “It worked, cost nothing, and you can still see it on Amazon to this day,” her colleague Jane Wood, publisher at Quercus, said. 

“There is so much to say about Beth: her humour, her zest for life, her courage in adversity, her generosity, her work ethic, her unstinting kindness,” Wood added. “She loved our business and the many authors, clients and staff she worked with, and they loved her. She was a perfectionist; it had to be right, and nothing was too much trouble. In my mind’s eye I will always see her lovely face, unlined to the end, creasing up with laughter, a glass of her favourite white wine in her hand.” 

Macdougall moved on from Secker & Warburg in 1989 to Barrie & Jenkins, before spending several years as group publicity director of Hodder & Stoughton, working with authors including Jeffrey Archer. In 1993 she founded her own PR company, Macdougall Gabriel Associates (MGA), where she publicised and consulted for publishing clients including English Heritage, the National Archives, HarperCollins, Penguin Press, Chaucer Press, Arris Books, and the bestselling science fiction writer Brian Aldiss. 

It was at MGA that she trained and mentored several budding book publicists who would go on to have prominent careers in the industry. 

Bethan Jones, director of publicity for Vintage at Penguin Random House, said: “I feel so very lucky to have started my publicity career with the remarkable and inspirational Beth Macdougall as my guide. Her passion and zeal for our industry and those who worked in it was infectious, and she was a supportive and nurturing mentor to so many aspiring book publicists. She shared her decades of impressive PR experience with generosity and warmth, and I will always be grateful to special, maverick, wonderful Beth for everything she taught me.” 

Katherine Patrick, publicity director for William Collins, remembered how Macdougall “created such a creative, friendly and warm book-loving family”, adding: “Her guidance, trust and patience made me the publicist I am today for which I will be forever grateful.” 

Pen Vogler, deputy publicity director at Penguin Press, said: “As I had only been in companies where people did not treat each other well, working with Beth was a revelation; she got people onside and overcame apparently mountainous obstacles, with her two super powers; enthusiasm and kindness. Her enormous generosity and ability to make connections between people made her something of a fairy godmother. I miss her enormously and will always be grateful for everything she taught me and everything she did for me.” 

Alison Samuel, former Chatto & Windus publisher and a fellow graduate trainee alongside Macdougall at Secker & Warburg, recalled fondly annual holidays in France when Macdougall was running MGA. “Beth would cover the kitchen table and every available surface with ’the catalogue’ which she worked on throughout the holiday, glass of white wine to hand: those were the steam-driven days, pre-computer, when she re-wrote, cut and pasted the copy for the autumn season’s catalogue of books for whichever publisher she was working, whether as publicist or publicity director. The job had to be perfectly done, so she did it herself, and always at the last minute... Beth was a shining star, and we miss that light.” 

A funeral service will be held at Mortlake Crematorium in London on Monday 13th June at 2 p.m.