Alison Ruane: ‘What motivates me is getting a child to read a book’
Macmillan Children’s Books’ new MD reflects on her first few months in the role and shares her priorities
Alison Ruane loved reading throughout her upbringing in Leicestershire, but never considered that she could be involved in creating books herself: “I didn’t know anyone who worked in any kind of creative industry at all.” After studying English literature at the University of Sheffield, she was determined to prove frustrating comments about the irrelevance of arts degrees wrong and eyed up a career in book publishing. “I had no idea how to get into it, but I fixated on it,” said Ruane. This led to her saving up to enrol on a six-month, postgraduate introduction-to-publishing course at West Herts College in Watford, followed by a first job in the industry as a marketing executive at Collins Education.
But she was “very much attracted to the glamour of trade publishing”, and soon joined Penguin Books as marketing manager, developing campaigns for Ladybird Books, before moving to HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she stayed for 14 years undertaking roles in marketing, brand strategy and as associate publisher of the division (acting as deputy to former executive publisher Ann-Janine Murtagh). Ruane joined Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) as communications director in May 2020, before stepping up to become managing director last August following Belinda Ioni Rasmussen’s departure to Walker Books.
Reflecting on her career to date, she says: “The bulk of it has been really thinking about children, families, educators, gatekeepers and how to engage them with what we’re publishing. I feel really motivated by the idea of getting a child interested in a book. There’s nothing better to me.” She adds: “Also, when it comes to marketing – which a lot of my jobs have been – young people are always at the forefront of that, so we always have to be ahead of the game. It’s really interesting and very much keeps you on your toes. That’s what I find quite inspiring.”
‘In some ways it’s been a challenging time to start a role like this, but I really see the opportunities and the difference we can make’
Considering the differences between her responsibilities as communications director and MD, she tells me: “The reality is that you go from being a specialist in an area to leading people who are doing jobs that are not necessarily your area of specialism... I’m much more involved in the whole breadth of the business now. I’m meeting people all the time – authors and agents, illustrators, gatekeepers, partners – but I absolutely love that. I really relish the variety.”
One of her first moves post- promotion was to reorganise the children’s books division to “better support our growth plan and bring greater clarity to our list”. There are now three business units: Colour Publishing, Julia Donaldson, and Fiction and Non-Fiction. She tells me: “We have plans to grow in every key category of the children’s book market. We have particularly ambitious growth targets around our fiction and commercial non-fiction areas.”
MCB launched new YA imprint First Ink last year, which is “doing fantastically”. “We are also really investing in middle-grade. Obviously, YA crossover is hot at the moment, but young fiction is where children start to develop their own tastes and interests and independent reading, so it’s a really important area of the market.” MCB is about to launch a new commercial non-fiction imprint “because we do see that as an area of growth for us”, following great success with authors such as Marcus Rashford.
Another focus is audiobooks, with Ruane citing a recent National Literacy Trust (NLT) report in which 42.3% of the young people surveyed said they enjoyed listening to audio in their free time. “Audio is a big opportunity for the children’s market. We know that the audience is there and more platforms and routes to that audience are opening up now. That is something that we’re really getting behind.”
Seven months into her tenure as MD, she feels things are going “well, overall”: “In the context of the market and the children’s reading crisis, in some ways it’s been a challenging time to start a role like this, but I really see the opportunities and the difference we can make.”
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Her publishing strategy in the face of declining numbers of young people reading for pleasure centres on “being very audience-facing and making sure that we’re publishing the books that children want to read”. “We’re conscious of the attention economy and the fact that children are more distracted than ever by other media. If children are going to read in their spare time, it’s got to be something that’s going to entertain them and that they’re going to enjoy. That’s what we’re really focused on.”
Other ways the publisher is looking to combat the literacy crisis is by supporting Waterstones Children’s Laureate and MCB author Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s Reading Rights campaign, which is dedicated to sharing the transformative impact books can have on children’s lives. “It is also about working with partners who can help us reach children with the least access to books,” Ruane says. Last year, MCB joined forces with the NLT and WH Smith on a campaign donating copies of The Gruffalo to children from the most deprived communities in the UK. Additionally, Pan Macmillan is the lead sponsor of the Black British Book Festival and MCB supported its first children’s festival, held on World Book Day, with several staff members attending and author Lenny Henry speaking.
“I’m establishing partnerships with local schools (with an ambition to stretch out to the rest of the country) to enable children to come into the office and see what it might be like to work in the creative industries,” she tells me, adding: “And then we have our teams going into schools and talking to different groups of children to hear what’s important to them and what they’re interested in.”
Ruane is “very mindful that books are a luxury item for a lot of people in the UK,” and is therefore “focused on making sure that there are lots of different books at lots of different price points and that we’re working with lots of different retail channels to ensure that we are reaching all sectors of the market”. Other priorities include taking a “sustained and consistent approach to making sure that our children’s books are inclusive” by working with Pan Macmillan’s head of diversity, equity and inclusion and social impact Jodie Williams on a strategy for MCB.
Next up is Ruane’s first trip to Bologna Children’s Book Fair as MD of MCB, which she is “very excited” for. “It’s a great opportunity to meet all our international partners, agents, authors and illustrators, but also to collaborate with our US colleagues on global publishing opportunities. There’s such an energy around the fair and it’s fantastic to see the entire children’s publishing industry deal-making and coming together in celebration of the books and the authors and illustrators that we’re publishing.” She anticipates that much of her time there will be spent networking and “talking about our focuses and who we are”.
On the latter point, she neatly encapsulates her ambitions for MCB: “My vision is that we’re a forward-thinking, proactive audience-facing publisher, and it’s really important that we have a commitment to growing the market and promoting inclusive children’s books.”
