Bonnier Books UK’s digital-first imprint, Embla Books, is celebrating its first successful year of trading by expanding the team with two newly created roles.
Hannah Deuce, currently at Bloodhound Books, has been appointed senior marketing manager and Melanie Hayes, currently at HQ, has been appointed commissioning editor.
Deuce and Hayes will join Embla’s nimble team of four, helping to further establish Embla as a leading digital-first publisher of commercial fiction as parent company Bonnier Books UK scales for growth.
With only 24 titles published by Embla so far, 22 have achieved Kindle bestseller status, with the imprint selling nearly half a million books to date. Early successes including Sarah Yarwood-Lovett’s mystery series which reached no.3 in the UK charts; Dandy Smith’s debut thriller One Small Mistake which reached no.16 and, most recently, Patricia Wolf’s thriller Outback which reached no.2 in the UK Kindle charts, only six weeks post publication, and no. 1 in Australia.
Deuce joins Embla from Bloodhound Books where she worked as marketing and PR manager for over a year, and at Bookouture prior to that. Deuce will report into Bonnier Books UK’s head of fiction marketing, Ellie Pilcher.
Deuce said: “I am delighted to be joining Embla at such an exciting time, both in their development and in the broader world of digital publishing. I can’t wait to work with their team and authors as we move into 2023.”
Pilcher said: “I’m thrilled Hannah is joining the Embla team. She is a talented marketer with exceptional digital know-how and strong commercial instincts and will make a fantastic addition to Embla’s team as the imprint continues to grow.”
Hayes joined HQ in 2019 and is currently an editor in their fiction team, working on Anna Bell, Rachel Greenlaw and Tembe Denton-Hurst and has published titles such as The Love Arrangement and Note to Self. Hayes will report into Embla’s editorial director, Cara Chimirri.
Hayes said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure working at HQ over the last few years, where I have been lucky enough to meet and work with wonderful colleagues and authors. But I am thrilled to be starting my next chapter with Embla, and to be joining at an exciting time of growth and success for the imprint. I can’t wait to work with Emilie, Cara, Jane and the rest of the Embla team to find even more talented writers for the list and to see what new heights we can reach for next.”
Chimirri said: “I am beyond thrilled to be welcoming Melanie to the team here at Embla. Melanie is an incredibly talented editor, with razor-sharp commercial instincts and amazing creativity. She offers the highest levels of care to her authors and exceptional editorial guidance and vision. I can’t wait to see what she brings to the list as Embla moves into the next phase of growth as an imprint.”
Emilie Marneur added: “Embla is small still but mighty. This is a highly competitive and challenging market segment and we’ve had an incredible hit rate this past year and have quickly established a reputation for establishing debut authors as bestsellers. I’m delighted to have Hannah and Melanie now join our team: they are both highly skilled and talented and I look forward to us growing the list together in 2023, and to further building our authors’ brands and bestselling series.”
Embla was launched by Bonnier Books UK in September 2021, with the ambition to build a market-leading digital imprint for commercial fiction. Led by Marneur, the team at Embla have been focused on curating a high-performing list of titles capable of generating long term sales and revenues. Their editorial philosophy, nimble digital-focused strategies and marketing techniques have seen nearly three quarters of the list hit the top 50 Kindle UK charts in 2022.
Deuce and Hayes will join the company on 23rd January.
