Publisher of the Year 2025
Publisher of the Year Winner and Shortlist
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While trade print sales were down in 2024, every year brings winners as well as losers—and these ten all flourished. Half are from Penguin Random House and Hachette’s domains, but there’s an impressive breadth of achievements and bags of innovation on display. Also prominent was progress on DEI, sustainability and publishing’s latest seismic challenge, AI.
Winner
Bloomsbury Adult
After six shortlistings in seven years, this is Bloomsbury’s first Publisher of the Year title since the Harry Potter heydays of the early 2000s.
It’s the result of smart investment of the Potter millions across Bloomsbury’s publishing, and it is the adult side that has earned this Nibbie. The division’s TCM sales rose 8% in 2024, while e-book sales as tracked by Bookstat climbed 18%, and international growth was at a similar mark.
Its undisputed champion of 2024 was Sarah J Maas (pictured), who delivered £13m of TCM sales to become the year’s topselling adult author. TikTok helped, but so too did Bloomsbury’s long-term brand-building. Susanna Clarke, Ann Patchett and Josephine Quinn added more bestsellers on the literary side, and Anne Michaels’ Held was shortlisted for the Booker.
In non-fiction, Gillian Anderson’s Want earned four weeks at number one – plus the Nibbie for Publicity Campaign of the Year – and the lifestyle list provided three more Sunday Times top spots from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Poppy O’Toole and Jon Watts. Head of Zeus was another list with a notably good year.
Behind the scenes there was good strategic work on Bloomsbury’s vision, infrastructure, diversity and sustainability, and it took good care of staff, authors and retailers. One agent said: “It feels like winning the lottery when Bloomsbury offers for one of my authors… they are the crème de la crème of publishing.”
Against a backdrop of tough conditions and declining TCM sales, Bloomsbury’s adult division stood out for its quality, breadth and sales. “It was really firing on all cylinders last year,” said the judges. “You can feel the energy and passion in everything it does.”
The Shortlist
Bloomsbury Adult
Bloomsbury hasn’t won this Nibbie since the Harry Potter heights of the early 2000s, but six shortlistings in seven years suggest it’s getting closer. Potter millions have been well invested on the adult side, leading to a stellar year powered by Sarah J Maas, the UK’s topselling adult author. The lifestyle list gave three Sunday Times number ones, Head of Zeus flew and it unleased all its creativity on Want.
Canongate
Canongate’s double-digit TCM growth in 2024 was driven by Matt Haig’s The Life Impossible and Miranda July’s All Fours. Four more books reached the Sunday Times charts—an impressive hit rate from a frontlist of just 42—and sales of many older titles and associated rights rolled on. Canongate is a notably ethical publisher with top author and staff care and now has B Corp status.
Cornerstone
Cornerstone’s 2024 success was the peak of several years’ work to rebalance its publishing and imprints. Nearly a quarter of new titles hit the Sunday Times lists and renewed backlist focus revived books like James Clear’s Atomic Habits. Big brands delivered but so did debuts—especially Jennie Godfrey—and there was a new manga and comic imprint, Inklore. “The best imaginable publisher,” said one author.
HarperCollins
Having been on this shortlist in 12 of the last 13 years HarperCollins is the model of consistency in the trade. 2024 saw it bucking the downward trend in sales and publish one of the year’s most visible books in Asako Yuzuki’s Butter. Imprint of the Year contenders HarperVoyager and The Borough Press brought many more hits in science, fantasy and literary fiction. Boris Johnson was HC’s big non-fiction event.
Little, Brown
Hachette’s Little, Brown group had a third record year in a row in 2024. In print, TCM sales climbed 4% and most of its 13 diverse imprints prospered. Frieda McFadden, Rebecca Yarros, Ana Huang and Elsie Silver led the charge of 40 books into the Sunday Times lists—11 of them from the Orbit sci fi and fantasy list. Ebooks, rights and audio sales all rose sharply too, and marketing and publicity were superb.
Orion
The 2021 Publisher of the Year claimed a biggest ever year of sales, powered by 25 different Sunday Times bestsellers and number ones from Richard Coles, Ian Rankin, the Hairy Bikers and Emily English. TikTok star Jessa Hastings was one of the newer names taken to new heights, while Laurence King was a standout among the imprints. “Always on the ball, always thinking outside the box,” said one author.
Pan Macmillan
Pan Mac was Publisher of the Year three times between 2015 and 2020, and it fired on all cylinders again in 2024. The literary side was especially strong thanks to Percival Everett, Alan Hollinghurst and Colm Tóibín, and it claimed 22 prizes and a third of the titles on The Bookseller’s round-up of the critics’ books of the year. The children’s and non-fiction sides beat tough markets and audio sales shot up.
Penguin General
Richard Osman was the clear champion of Penguin General’s year, with the two biggest sellers through the TCM. But there was much more besides, with an impressive diversity and distinction across its Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Life, Sandycove and Viking imprints. Books secured 29 Sunday Times top tens and won a slew of prizes from the Women’s to the William Hill.
Vintage
Vintage’s huge range notched up 28 weeks at Sunday Times number ones and the same number of prizes—including the Booker and Baillie Gifford from Samantha Harvey and Richard Flanagan. High-profile books by Salman Rushdie, Rory Stewart and Alexei Navalny helped it to its best-ever year on the non-fiction side. International sales grew by double-digits and audio by half.
Wonderbly
Personalised book specialist Wonderbly makes the Publisher of the Year shortlist for the first time. With sales handled direct it can fly beneath the radar, but it had a best-ever year—thanks in large part to a move beyond its core children’s range to more adult-oriented gift titles. Behind the scenes it bedded in its Historic Newspapers acquisition and achieved B-Corp status.
