Anthem builds on success with new appointments and doubles share of bookazine market

Anthem Publishing sees in the new year with a bang as it announces two senior appointments, moves into new offices and celebrates being the UK’s fastest growing newsstand publisher

Anthem today announces the promotions of Sally FitzGerald to Managing Director and Jenny Cook to Chief Creative Officer. The new appointments follow the retirement of joint-founder Simon Lewis at the turn of the year and recognise the huge impact of Sally and Jenny over their combined 39 years at the company.

Speaking about her promotion, Sally said, “I’m excited to step up into the role of MD and help drive the success of our remarkable company. Having come from an editorial background, I’m proud of the quality and innovation we put into bringing great brands to our readers year-in year-out, and love that we’re never shy to be at the forefront of a new trend.”

Jenny added, “I’ve been with Anthem since day one and can safely say we never stand still. But all the way through we’ve aimed to match big publisher quality with smaller business dynamics. Even now I know our best years are still ahead of us.”

The promotions coincide with a move from Anthem’s long-time base on the edge of Bath to more centrally-located, newly refurbished offices just minutes from the city centre and train station.

Jenny explained, “Our new office marks a fresh chapter for Anthem as we embrace ultra-flexible hybrid working with a beautiful space that people want to work in. We’re already seeing an increase in occupancy with our team enjoying the benefits of collaboration in a comfortable environment that’s a breeze to get to.”

The UK’s leading independent bookazine publisher

According to Marketforce sales data released at the end of 2024, Anthem is the UK’s fastest growing publisher on the UK newsstand with 29% year-on-year revenue growth, far out-pacing the market average of 4% decline.

Even more dramatic is the news that Anthem has more than doubled its share of the Bookazine market from 3.3% to 7.6% in the past 12 months and is now the country’s leading independent bookazine publisher.

Sally commented, “Working incredibly closely with our distributor Marketforce, we explore every opportunity to maximise our impact at newsstand – winning NMA Newsstand Magazine of the Year and PPA Independent Publisher Innovation of the Year in 2024 back up the amazing numbers.”

CEO Jon Bickley concluded, “We’re bowled over by the news that we’re now the leading independent bookazine publisher. This shows that bringing brilliant on-trend publications quickly to market to satisfy previously untapped demand is a recipe for success. We plan to build on this with a raft of new launches in 2025 as we double down on our core areas of food, music and colouring, and expand further into tech and health.”

Anthem

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