Unbound brings sales and distribution in-house

Unbound is bringing its sales and distribution arms in-house and has strengthened its sales team with two new hires.

The crowdfunding publisher has agreed a new sales and distribution agreement with PGUK, which will take effect from 1st September 2018, after the services were previously handled by Cornerstone, a division of Penguin Random House.

Under the joint venture with Cornerstone, which began in 2015, trade sales grew "strongly", driven by successes such as The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla, and Lia Leendertz’s The Almanac, according to the publisher. However, with company's trade sales growing by 125% in the past 12 months, the publisher believes it has now reached a size where it can manage its sales, printing and distribution processes in-house.

Two new hires have been made: Brian Martin is joining as key account manager for Amazon (print and digital) from Titan Books, and Julian Mash will become trade sales and marketing manager.

Dan Kieran, c.e.o. and co-founder of Unbound, said the move is a "watershed moment" for the publisher.

“At a time when many traditional publishers are reducing their output, our business model means we’re moving rapidly in the opposite direction, and we’ve more than doubled our growth each year since 2015", said Kieran. "While it’s been a privilege to work with the team at Cornerstone, and Unbound is a better business for having partnered with them, it’s now time for us to take control of our trade sales.”

Cathy Parson and Medwyn Hughes, managing directors of PGUK, said: “We’re excited at the prospect of working with such a ground-breaking publisher, and on a list of such breadth and diversity.”

The Penguin Random House sales team will continue to take orders for Unbound titles published before 31st August 2018. Kieran's own book The Surfboard will be one of the first titles to be published under the new deal.