Author: BMS
BMS announce new Award categories for 2016/17 campaign season

The Book Marketing Society has announced new categories for its marketing campaign Awards programme, as the new 2016-17 Awards period gets underway.
The redefined categories will see a clearer split between Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction alongside Children’s, with the ‘shoestring’ category threshold of total campaign spend lowered to £2.5k, halving the previous budget threshold of £5k.
A new category has also been created for “multi-title” campaigns, where marketing activity is geared towards the promotion of backlist titles, or any other grouping of titles coordinated by a single campaign.
The categories now breakdown as follows:
- Adult and Children’s shoestring (up to £2.5k)
- Adult Fiction (above £2.5k)
- Non-Fiction (above £2.5k)
- Children’s (above £2.5k)
- Multi-title campaign (ie backlist, series, or some other grouping of titles)
In addition, judges will be on the lookout throughout the coming year for marketers or marketing teams who could be considered for an ‘outstanding achievement’ award, which would be included as part of the Annual Award announcements in 2017.
Jo Henry, Executive Director of the BMS, said: “We’re keen to encourage a greater diversity of campaigns being submitted by publishers and retailers for these prestigious Awards, and to ensure that those that are submitted are being judged as fairly as possible. These new categories will result in even more fantastic marketing campaigns to applaud and an even greater clarity in the judging process.”
Winners for the 2015/16 Annual Awards were announced at the Bookseller’s Marketing & Publicity conference in June and included Lean in 15 by Joe Wicks, run by Anna Bowen of Bluebird/Pan MacMillan, Vicky Photiou from Ladybird/PRH Children’s was honoured for her campaign for The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep by Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin, and Caroline Maddison and Justine Gold from HarperCollins were awarded the prize for the Shoestring award – for campaigns under £5,000 – for their work on Scrabble Week. Simon & Schuster Children’s won the award for Best Marketing Team 2015/16.
The Awards are part of the Book Marketing Society’s commitment to promoting excellence in book trade marketing. The Seasonal Awards reward the best marketing campaigns every four months now in five categories, and the Annual Awards. The Awards are designed to acknowledge the work of marketing professionals within the book industry. The judges – independent marketing and book trade experts– are particularly looking for a professional approach in the following three areas:
- Innovation and creativity
- Ability to reach and engage the target audience
- A good return on investment
Submissions are now open for the first ‘seasonal’ campaign period (May – August 2016). To enter your campaign please visit
https://www.bookmarketingsociety.co.uk/submit-bms-awards
To view information about previous winners visit
https://www.bookmarketingsociety.co.uk/bms-awards
For further information or to learn more about membership to the BMS, please contact
Jon Slack on [email protected]
Breakfast Masterclass series with James Spackman to continue early 2017
The Book Marketing Society’s Masterclass with publisher and consultant James Spackman has returned by popular demand following the success of the first events earlier this year. The first of these new sessions took place on Thursday 13th October in Central London and focused on adult fiction and non-fiction.
The next masterclass will focus on promoting backlist titles (on 26 January), and with a follow-up session focused on children’s marketing campaigns (on 13 April).
James Spackman: ‘Our first Masterclass yielded fascinating insights and we had more of that in our October masterclass with the people behind Lean in 15’s spectacular conversion of social fans into pre-order customers, Belgravia’s groundbreaking, integrated digital product development and promotion, and Everyone Brave is Forgiven’s exceptional trade engagement.’
Jon Slack, BMS Development Manager: ‘We have fine-tuned the format across this new series so that each masterclass has a separate focus on Adult, Backlist and Children’s campaign case studies. There is also be a ‘campaign surgery’ section that offers everyone attending the opportunity to discuss their current campaign challenges within the group, and proved to be alive with ideas and discussion at the October session.’
It’s the ideal opportunity to gain the inside track on bestselling marketing campaigns and pick up insights and tips for your future marketing strategies. Further details on the January and April masterclasses will be made available soon.
Speakers and campaigns for the January masterclass will be announced soon.
Booking information:
When:
Thurs 13 Oct 2016 – ADULT done
Thurs 26 Jan 2017 – BACKLIST
Thurs 13 April 2017 – CHILDREN’S
Each session will run from 9.30-12.30pm and include a break and breakfast refreshments (doors from 9am)
Where:
Nielsen Book offices, 5th floor, Endeavour House, 189 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8TJ
Price:
£40 per class, or book x3 spots for £110
Places are limited and only available to BMS members.
For larger or more complicated team bookings please contact [email protected]
Your booking:
S&S Children’s wins BMS ‘Best Marketing Team’ of the year

Marketing campaigns from Pan Macmillan, HarperCollins and PRH Children’s were honoured by the Book Marketing Society’s annual awards revealed at The Bookseller’s Marketing and Publicity Conference yesterday (28th June), while Simon & Schuster Children’s was given a special award for the Best Marketing Team in 2015/16.
The campaign for Lean in 15 by Joe Wicks run by Anna Bowen of Bluebird/Pan MacMillan was judged the winner of the Adult category, beating off competition from Penguin’s Sam Voulters for Little Black Classics, PRH’s Jen Doyle, Chloe Healy and Natalia Cacciatore for Go Set a Watchman by HarperLee and PRH’s Celeste Ward-Best for The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies.
In the Children’s category, Vicky Photiou from Ladybird/PRH Children’s was honoured for her campaign for The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep by Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin. Also in contention for this award were Simon & Schuster’s Elisa Offord for Hamish and the Worldstoppers by Danny Wallace, PRH Children’s’ Jessica Williams, Jannine Saunders and Gemma Rostill for The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett and S&S’s Liz Binks for Dork Diaries: Drama Queen.
Caroline Maddison and Justine Gold from HarperCollins were awarded the prize for the Shoestring award – for campaigns under £5,000 – for their work on Scrabble Week. Also shortlisted for this award were Penguin’s Paul Martinovic for his campaign for Calm by Michael Acton Smith, HarperCollins’ Matt Clacher for A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones, Penguin’s Ingrid Matts for The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith and HarperCollins’ Orlando Mowbray for Your Ultimate Body Transformation Plan by Nick Mitchell.
The special award for the Best Marketing Team 2015/16 went to Simon & Schuster Children’s.
Shortlists revealed for the Marketing Campaigns of the Year

With the announcement of the winners for the January-April 2016 season, the full shortlists for the 2015/16 BMS Best Marketing Campaigns of the Year Awards can now be revealed, as follows:
Shoestring Shortlist:
- January to April 2015 winner Paul Martinovic for Calm by Michael Acton Smith (Penguin)
- May to August 2015 joint winners Matt Clacher for A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones and Caroline Maddison and Justine Gold for Scrabble Week (HarperCollins UK )
- September to December 2015 winner Ingrid Matts for The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Particular Books/Penguin)
- January to April 2016 winner Orlando Mowbray for Your Ultimate Body Transformation Plan by Nick Mitchell (HarperCollins UK)
Children’s Shortlist:
- January to April 2015 winner Elisa Offord for Hamish and the Worldstoppers by Danny Wallace (Simon & Schuster)
- May to August 2015 winner Jessica Williams, Jannine Saunders and Gemma Rostill for The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett (Penguin Random House Children’s)
- September to December 2015 winner Vicky Photiou for The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep by Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin (Ladybird/PRH Children’s)
January to April 2016 winner Liz Binks for Dork Diaries: Drama Queen by Rachel Renee Russell (Simon & Schuster)
Adult Shortlist:
- January to April 2015 winner Sam Voulters for Little Black Classics (Penguin)
- May to August 2015 winner Jen Doyle, Chloe Healy and Natalia Cacciatore for Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (Cornerstone, PRH)
- September to December 2015 winner Celeste Ward-Best for The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies (Cornerstone/PRH)
- January to April 2016 winner Anna Bowen for Lean in 15 by Joe Wicks (Bluebird/Pan Macmillan)
You can read more about the recent Jan-April 2016 BMS Award winners here: Spring Season BMS Awards
The BMS Annual Awards will be announced at the forthcoming Marketing and Publicity Conference, hosted by the Bookseller magazine on 28th June at Milton Court at the Barbican, London. The conference is a rich opportunity to focus on learning new strategies and tactics to sell more books. The line-up is now complete and we think it’s looking great. The full programme can be viewed here.
Spring Season BMS Award winners

The winners were announced at the Book Marketing Society’s meeting held at Penguin Random House’s Strand offices on 9th June for the Spring season, covering marketing campaigns run between January and April 2016.
At a time of year when publishers typically choose to launch debut novelists or New Year New You campaigns, the judges also noticed a number of food (mainly biscuits) and drink themed promotions.
In the adult category, there were three Highly Commended campaigns. The first, from Fergus Edmondson of Pan Macmillan for So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson came complete with a hashtag-shaped public stocks set up in Shoreditch that successfully embodied the theme of the book; Louisa Macpherson, Julia Pidduck and Jackie Freshfield of W&N/Hachette’s campaign for Julian Fellowes’s Belgravia was praised by the judges for being ‘spot on for the target audience’ – complete with a recipe for pink gin – while September Withers of Transworld/PRH’s striking campaign for debut novel Disclaimer by Renee Knight achieved a Number 1 slot on the Sunday Times Best Seller list & hugely impressive sales. The winning slot was taken, however, by Anna Bowen of Bluebird/Pan Macmillan for Lean in 15 by Joe Wicks. A very long lead in and the release of masses of material up front – including beach work out in the summer and Christmas recipe via Amazon – built up an incredible audience. The book hit the crest of a wave on which it has surfed successfully ever since.
In the Children’s category there was a highly commended for Elisa Offord of Simon & Schuster with her ‘eating veggies is good for you’ campaign for Supertato: Veggies Assemble by Hendra & Linnet, while the winning slot was taken by her colleague Liz Binks, also of Simon & Schuster which harnessed the power of the 8-12 year old ‘Dorkette’ superfans to push Dork Diaries: Drama Queen to the top of the bestseller lists.
In the hotly contested Shoestring category (campaigns under £5k) the judges eyes’ were caught by Merle Bennett of Simon & Schuster’s sensitive and well-targeted campaign for Girl Up by Laura Bates which won a Highly Commended, while the winners laurels were won by Orlando Mowbray of HarperCollins Publishers for his innovative campaign for Your Ultimate Body Transformation Plan by Nick Mitchell, which used the Shazam app VR to reveal additional content of instructional videos.
BMS Awards: the Christmas season winners in full

The winners were announced at the Book Marketing Society’s meeting held at Hachette’s Carmelite House offices on 17 February for the all-important Christmas season, for campaigns run between September and December 2015.
With getting on for half of all consumer book purchases taking place in the period, many being bought as Christmas gifts, there were some major titles jostling for the Awards. In the Shoestring category (campaigns costing less than £5k), Fleur Clarke and Naomi Berwin of Hodder & Stoughton were awarded Highly-Commended for their campaign for the not-quite SF and originally self-published title The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, while the winner’s laurels went to Ingrid Matts of Particular Books/Penguin for her innovative campaign to promote what become Waterstones’ Book of the year, the beautiful The Fox and the Star by Penguin designer Coralie Bickford-Smith.
In the children’s category there was a highly commended for Nicola Way, Hannah Bourne and Catherine Conroy of HarperCollins Children’s Books for their unmissable campaign for Grandpa’s Great Escape by David Walliams as well as one for Natasha Collie, Gemma Rostill and Roisin O’Shea of Penguin’s for their campaign – including the first ever Snapchat book signing – for Zoe Sugg’s second outing, Girl Online: On Tour. The surprise winner, however, was the campaign by Vicky Photiou at Ladybird for The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep (another previously self-published title): ‘pure marketing’ according to the judges.
There were also two Highly Commended campaigns in the Adult category, with Bethan Ferguson, Jeska Lyons and Ella Pocock of Quercus impressing the judges with their eye-catching campaign (#showusyourstack) for the surprise Christmas bestseller Norwegian Wood and Clarissa Pabi of Ebury’s campaign for another YouTube phenomenon, The Amazing Book is Not on Fire by Dan Howell and Phil Lester. The winning campaign, however, came from Celeste Ward-Best at Cornerstone, with the Richard & Judy choice The Tea-Planters Wife. Using geo-targeted advertising to drive sales, this became a stand-out bestseller in the crowded Christmas period.
BMS Book Marketing Primer returns / 28 April 2016

BMS announces the return of this comprehensive and intensive all-day BMS Primer for book marketers. Targeted at those in the early years of their career, as well as those hoping to join the industry or just wanting a refresher. The full day offers an in-depth overview of book marketing, with new insights and the latest thinking around campaigns, available tools and resources.
Featuring a brand new breakout session where participants will get the chance to respond to creative campaign challenges.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Matt Haslum (Consumer Marketing Director, Faber)
- Katie Hall (Consumer Marketing Manager, Faber)
- Lucy Howkins (Marketing Campaigns Director, Atlantic)
- Steve Bohme (Research Director, Nielsen Book Research)
- Ben North (Creative Director, HarperCollins UK)
- Alastair Giles (Director, Agile Marketing)
- Plus speakers from Alchemy Worx, Total Media and more
Sessions covered:
- How does marketing fit into the publishing landscape
- Planning and evaluating a campaign
- Targeting your audience
- Email marketing and segmentation
- Working with authors
- Making most of your advertising budget
- The importance of good SEO, and how to achieve it
- Thinking creatively and writing great copy
- Identifying and engaging with communities
- Making sense of social media
Tickets are limited and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
- WHEN: Thursday 28 April 2016, 9.30am-5.30pm (registration from 9am)
- LOCATION Faber & Faber, Bloomsbury House, 74 – 77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA
- COST: BMS members & students £125 / Non-members £199 (buy 1 get 1 half price offer is available)
- BOOKINGS: http://bit.ly/BMS2016_Primer
BMS Campaign Masterclass breakfast with James Spackman

The BMS is inviting its members to delve into some of the most successful marketing campaigns of the past twelve months at its first Marketing Campaign Masterclass breakfast on Monday 25 January 2016 (9am-11.30am). The originators of three award-winning campaigns will be quizzed about the choices and stories that lie behind their work by James Spackman, Publisher of Profile Pursuit and branding consultant. Audience participation will be welcomed, with adult, children’s, big and small campaigns covered.
Joining the event to discuss their work will be award-winning marketers:
- Sam Missingham, whose successful and highly influential online book festivals for sci-fi and romance at HarperCollins have engaged huge numbers of readers and challenged preconceptions about collaboration between publishers.
- Elisa Offord, whose campaign for Hamish by Danny Wallace (S&S) helped launch an established adult author in the children’s sector, with a campaign that included a high-profile collaboration with World Book Day, innovative use of video, extensive third party partnerships and well-targeted consumer competitions.
- Sarah Shea, whose low-budget campaign for All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher (Little, Brown) was exemplary in its persistence, smart use of author connections online and enlistment of genuine hard-core fans, as well as clever retail positioning.
The session aims to be open and interactive, with the opportunity for everyone attending to share any challenges they are facing in their own campaigns. A summary of all three campaigns will be circulated ahead of the masterclass and audience members will be encouraged to come armed with questions. We are aiming for a wide-ranging discussion about creating campaigns with real impact.
BOOKING DETAILS
When: Mon 25 January 2016, 9am-11.30am
Where: Nielsen Book offices, 5th floor, Endeavour House, 189 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8TJ
Price: £35 inc refreshments
Bookings: http://bit.ly/BMS_2016masterclass
James Spackman is in the process of compiling some sort of publishing Grand Slam, having done time in sales (Bloomsbury, Hodder), marketing (John Murray), general management (Watkins/Osprey) and, most recently, editorial (at Profile, as Publisher of Pursuit, a cycling list). Marketing is in his blood, as anyone who has heard him speak about blurb, endmatter or ‘reader experience‘ can attest.
Big wins for Cornerstone and HarperCollins at BMS Awards May-August ’15

The winners were announced at the Book Marketing Society’s meeting held at Penguin Random House’s Vauxhall Bridge Road offices on 28 October for the Summer season, encompassing campaigns run between May and August 2015.
There were some major campaigns run over the summer period in the adult category, with Jen Doyle and Sarah Ridley at Cornerstone’s speedy and spectacular campaign to launch the new E.L. James, Grey, resulting in terrific sales and Sarah Shea at Little Brown’s campaign for Judy Finnegan’s pick I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh, praised for its ‘exemplary ‘ collaboration with the author. Both, however, were beaten into runner-up places by Jen Doyle, Chloe Healy, Natalia Cacciatore and Amber Bennett-Ford’s extraordinary campaign to launch Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, which culminated in 13 midnight opening events in Waterstones and a Harper Lee festival in Waterstones Piccadilly, which took the winning slot.
In the Children’s category there was a highly commended for Hannah Bourne, Catherine Conroy and Nicola Way of HarperCollins Children’s Books with their YouTube campaign for Darkmouth effectively targeting 9-12 year old boys, but they were pipped to the post by Jessica Williams, Jannine Saunders and Gemma Rostill at PRH Children’s Books for their spectacular campaign for Terry Pratchett’s last book, The Shepherd’s Crown. This collaboration with Waterstones included a midnight event at Piccadilly that sold out in 15 minutes.
In the hotly contested Shoestring category (campaigns under £5k) the judges eyes’ were caught by Rik Ubhi of Simon & Schuster’s sparkling campaign for Life with a Sprinkle of Glitter which achieved a no. 1 slot in hardback non-fiction on a very minimal budget. However, the winner’s laurels went jointly to Caroline Maddison and Justine Gold at HarperCollins for their all-encompassing campaign for Scrabble Week and Matt Clacher at 4th Estate/HarperCollins’ very successful use of partnerships to create another bestselling title for Anna Jones, A Modern Way to Cook.
With thanks to our guest judges Sandra Taylor (Waterstones) and Sandy Mahal (The Space).
Tough competition amongst winners of Jan-April 2015 campaign awards

The winners were announced at the Book Marketing Society’s meeting held at HarperCollins new offices in Southwark on 10 June for the Spring season, encompassing campaigns run between January and April 2015.
There was stiff competition for the winner in the Adult category, with the campaign by Paul Martinovic of Penguin for the best-selling debut novel Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey and Alice Morley at Orion’s campaign for Davina McCall’s 5 Weeks to Sugar-Free – with five consumers taking the sugar-free challenge – both getting a highly commended. The winner, however, was the stylish and impressive campaign that Sam Voulters of Penguin had put together for Little Black Classics. Beautiful art direction and an impressive range of partners convinced the judges that this was the stand-out Adult campaign this season.
In the Children’s category there was a highly commended for Laura Mason of PRH Children’s Books’ campaign for The Dinosaur that Pooped a Lot by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter (despite qualms about the content matter!). Also highly commended was the team at Walker Books (Molly Main, Jill Kidson and Sean Moss) with their campaign for the YA debut novel I’ll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson. The crown was taken, however, by Elisa Offord at Simon & Schuster’s campaign for Hamish and the WorldStoppers by Danny Wallace. With a great live action trailer, innovative range of partners and a very successful Holiday Cottages competition, the challenge of launching a children’s book by an adult author was successfully overcome.
In the hotly contested Shoestring category (campaigns under £5k) the judges eyes’ were caught by a well-targeted campaign for The Road Beneath My Feet by Frank Turner from Tom Noble of Headline and a very successful social media campaign for All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher from Sarah Shea of Little, Brown. Both were highly commended. The winner was a beautifully art-directed and impressive broad (despite a minimal budget) campaign for Calm by Michael Acton Smith by Paul Martinovic of Penguin – picking up his second Award of the evening.
Follow us on X
Receive our newsletter
Sign up to our newsletter for all the latest BMS updates, events, job notices and industry news.
Join us on Facebook
All BMS Members are entitled to sign up to the BMS Facebook group and join our online community of book marketers.
The group is the best way to be in know about our events, hear about our promotions and ask other BMS members for advise.