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Boldwood Books has reported revenues of £1.6m in 2020, its first full financial year, and added five new authors to its now 50-strong list.
The company was set up by Amanda Ridout in 2019 and, for the year ending 31st December 2020, reported a net profit of more than 20%.
Ridout told The Bookseller she had originally forecast “considerably lower” revenue and to only break even in year one.
She said: “Some of the particularly pleasing aspects of the results were that the revenue was genuinely global — by the end of December over 40% was coming from outside the UK — and it was genuinely multi-format, 25% of the revenue came from print.
“As to what drove the revenue, we had success across our title portfolio. While three authors exceeded 100,000 unit sales, 80% of our writers have featured on the global top 100 bestseller e-charts during the year.”
Ridout has now added six more writers who have already been successfully published in the UK, Ireland and Australia. They have all been contracted on multi-book deals and will be published in every format simultaneously in all English-language territories.
They include saga writer AnneMarie Brear, who has penned more than 20 novels. Her books are mainly set in Yorkshire and Australia, between the 19th century and the First World War. Her first title for Boldwood will be published in February 2022.
Also coming to Boldwood is Irish writer Caroline Finnerty, known for her heart-wrenching family dramas, whose The Last Days of Us, will be published in June 2021. She is joined on the list by Janet Hoggarth, bestselling author of the Single Mums series, whose first Boldwood book will appear in 2022.
Fenella J Miller, writer of 18 historical sagas, will launch a new series with Boldwood in December 2021, while Personal Shopper series author Carmen Reid returns after a break with a novel featuring her hallmark feisty women characters for July 2021. Finally, psychological suspense writer Lynda Stacey will release No Place Like Home in July 2021.
Ridout said: “After an extraordinary 2020 when Boldwood not only survived but thrived we are thrilled to be welcoming six more wonderful authors to our list. In our first full year of publishing we delivered healthy sales and profit, created over 35 top 10 global bestsellers and have now sold over 2.75 million books across all formats, in every part of the world.
“Most importantly with our authors, our readers and our industry partners we began building a company that is more than a business — Boldwood is a team, a family and an extraordinary support network. It is in good shape to flourish in 2021 and beyond.”