It’s that time of the year when we look back on all that we achieved in the last 12 months and look forward to the next. 2021 was a fantastic year of Avon.
- In 2021, we published 55 books
- We read seven books for our Team Avon Diversity Book Club
- There were two new Avon babies (Congratulations Helen and Rachel!)
- We held an author event in Green Park in Summer 2021
- We launched the Avon Blogger newsletter for reviewers, influencers and VIP readers
- In October, we held the first ever #AllAboutAvon Showcase
- Several of our authors were nominated for awards in 2021, including: Gill Paul (nominated for HWA), C.L. Taylor (Shortlisted for Dagger in the Library) Clare Marchant (nominated for Joan Hessayon Award) and J.P. Carter who was nomianted for the Crimefest edunnit award
- Our campaign for The Serial Killer’s Wife won the BMS Adult Fiction Campaign Award
- We were nominated for the RNA Publisher of the Year Award
- We ran the Avon x Mushens Prize – Congrats to Mimi Deb!
- The Serial Killer’s Wife sold over 100,000 copies
- Many of Avon titles hit the Heatseekers chart in 2021
- Several books entered the Top 100 Kindle chart this year including: The Serial Killer’s Wife, An Endless Cornish Summer, The Pandemic Plot, A Home in the Sun, The Killer in the Snow, Under the Mistletoe, The Crusader’s Cross, Her Last Holiday and many others!
- In 2021 we signed many exciting new authors – books coming soon! – including Emma Cowell, J.M. Hall, Simon McCleave
- C.L. Taylor, Scott Mariani and Phillipa Ashley had Sunday Times bestselling titles this year
- In December, the Avon team took a trip together to see our books in the wild at the local supermarkets
- In 2021, we had our biggest audiobook cast to date with Nell Pattison’s Hide, read by Clare-Louise English, Billy Ashcroft, David Thorpe, Sherry Baines, Alex Wingfield, Nick Biadon and Beth Eyre. We utilised our partnership with East 15 Drama School, which aims to help new and diverse talent break into the industry, casting Billy Ashcroft as Kai, and we have Clare-Louise, the brilliant Deaf actress from the Silent books, read the part of Emily
- We have two audiobooks in Apple’s 2021 Bestsellers The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams and The Serial Killer’s Wife by Alice Hunter
- In 2021, we saw the return of in-person festivals with our author attending and speaking on panels at Bloody Scotland and Harrogate
- We had a lot of new starters join the team in 2021 – which means more people in the Christmas Jumper Day photo!
- And all in all it’s been a wonderful year for Avon! We can’t wait to see what 2022 will bring.
Happy New Year!