 |
|
| Mark Smith | |
Mark Smith is stepping down as CEO of Bonnier Zaffre and will leave at the end of the month, the Bookseller reported. He has sold his stake in the company to Bonnier Publishing, which had bought Smith's Zaffre Publishing in 2014.
Smith, who earlier founded and was CEO of Quercus before its sale to Hodder & Stoughton, built up Bonnier Zaffre by promoting both new authors and established authors to new audiences. Most notably, Bonnier Zaffre signed both Wilbur Smith and Lynda La Plante. The company launched its program in the U.S. early this year, highlighting both authors.
Smith's departure comes as several other top executives have left Bonnier Publishing in the U.K. after the company "wrestled with profitability problems" in 2017, according to financial documents.
Smith said: "The last three and a half years at Bonnier Zaffre, working with the brilliant team in Marylebone to build a commercial fiction company that covers both children's and adult, has been a truly unique experience and Bonnier Zaffre is now firmly established and ready for the next stage of growth. The strategy of having a very narrow focus on both the types and number of books we published has produced regular appearances in the bestseller charts and rapid growth. Looking to the future, our authors, agents and partners are in great hands and there will be many more exciting developments to come."
Jim Zetterlund, acting group CEO and chairman, said that Bonnier Zaffre had recently "reached a turning point, building on their early success to establish Bonnier Zaffre as a highly respected commercial fiction publisher with a growing profile in the U.S."
He added: "Mark joined Bonnier Publishing at the beginning of 2015 and, with the support of a stellar executive team, quickly gained a reputation for transforming debut authors into bestsellers and introducing established authors to new audiences around the world. What Mark has achieved in a relatively short period of time is quite remarkable and I'm deeply grateful for his help in setting up Bonnier Books' English-language fiction business."