Charlie Redmayne. Image: HarperCollins UK
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Redmayne Had Become HarperCollins UK CEO in 2013
In a surprise statement today from London (October 7), HarperCollins UK has announced that Charlie Redmayne has resigned his post as CEO.Kate Elton has been named to succeed Redmayne as interim CEO. She will sit on the global executive committee and hold responsibility for the United Kingdom and Ireland, reporting to Brian Murray, who is the worldwide publisher and CEO of HarperCollins, based in New York City.
Brian Murray
On the international spectrum, HarperCollins India and the Australia/New Zealand division will report to Murray.
The company adds that an announcement will be forthcoming about a permanent appointment.
In a statement released by Murray’s offices, we read, “Kate is an inspiring publisher who has a deep understanding of the industry and the HarperCollins business.
“She has shepherded the UK Adult commercial divisions to tremendous success with thoughtful leadership and insight.
Kate Elton
“Kate is an incredible team player who has been instrumental in helping to build a culture of collaboration and innovation. I’m delighted that she will be taking the role.”
Prior to her move to HarperCollins, Kate worked for 15 years at Random House.
“It is a great privilege to be asked to lead HarperCollins UK,” she says in today’s statement.
“I’ve been enormously proud to be part of the remarkable HarperCollins team for the last 14 years—it’s a genuine honor and joy to work with our wonderful community of authors, and with the talented, creative teams who bring their work to readers around the world.”
Redmayne appeared as our Executive Talk interviewee in the 2022 edition of Publishing Perspectives Forum at Frankfurter Buchmesse. He was, at that point, especially articulate on the question of the pricing of books.
“My own view,” he said, “is that the cost of books has been incredibly cheap for a very, very long time. And I think that’s partly because of the way we operate our businesses.
“As you know, we actually operate our businesses on each individual publication. So each individual publication is an event. If you try to move the price a bit on it, it’s all, ‘Oh, my goodness, no, because that could impact that particular book and that particular author.’
“So I think the prices in the book industry have stagnated for a long time.”
More on Publishing Perspectives Forum is here, more on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on international book fairs is here, and more on careers in publishing is here.
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