Experience

Industry-leading book and online publishing CEO

Verso Books. Seventeen years as CEO, driving unprecedented growth in readership and revenue
Direct-to-consumer. Saw an opportunity for Verso to be the first trade book publisher to build a direct relationship with its readers
Partnerships with key magazines, periodicals, websites, developers, and designers were central to this strategy
Digital-first approach to publishing and marketing that dramatically increased readership and quadrupled turnover
Immediate access to the digital product combined with visually appealing presentation of high-quality print books
Online discovery and word-of-mouth with a unified approach to branding, design and UX in print and online
Data-driven marketing with a comprehensive social media and publicity strategy and on-message digital assets

Editorial strategy. Overhauled editorial strategy and production workflow, to gradually increase the number of high-quality books Verso was publishing in subject areas with a proven readership.
Business strategy. Launched and ran the only truly successful trade D2C sales operation in book publishing, which grew year-on-year to reach one-third of Verso’s global revenue.
Books x2. Doubled the number of books published each year from 60 to 120, publishing over 1,000 titles in total and launching ten new series.
Staff x2.5. Hired and managed senior staff in the US and UK, initiating and overseeing departmental reorganizations and the introduction of SMART KPIs.
Turnover x4. Quadrupled revenue in twelve years (from $2.5M to $10M, an annual growth rate of 12%).
Units sold x5. Total number of books sold, including both trade and direct sales of print and ebooks, increased fivefold to 1.5M copies annually.
Readership x15. Including the growth in website readership to 3.8M users, Verso’s total global readership increased by a multiple of fifteen to 6.8M annually.

Verso in NY. Hired and managed senior staff, moved production editorial operations from London to NYC, and relaunched Verso in North America.

Wrote for, edited, typeset, proofread, and printed the journal, whilst overseeing distribution, sales, accounts and business strategy.

Built NLR’s first comprehensive website and digitized their 60-year archive. Bundling online and print subscriptions made NLR profitable for the first time in over a decade.

Collaborations

Leadership of high-performing editorial, marketing and sales teams
Identification of new opportunities available to established institutions and brands
Development of a robust business strategy that breaks with industry conventions
Communication of strategy to key stakeholders to ensure buy-in and successful execution
Negotiation with key suppliers and partners to ensure that objectives are aligned and services delivered on budget
Delivered growth and consistent profitability in a low-margin industry
Financial planning and oversight, working with accountants, CFOs, and auditors
Architect of a successful, tech-forward book publishing strategy that is being adopted by other publishers
Software development methodologies, tech stack, platforms, and capabilities
Open-source software and open-access publishing
Management training, experience and skills, including unionization and collective bargaining