Pan Macmillan has launched a new community-led publishing collaboration with the Black British Book Festival (BBBF). The collaboration will build on insights from the BBBF’s community of 10,000 engaged readers and “invite the BBBF community to influence and shape the books acquired and published”. The collaboration, announced at this year’s Festival on Sunday 19th October, will “explore a new community-led publishing model with a clearly defined audience”.
Instead of following the traditional imprint model, the collaboration means titles will be published within the most appropriate imprint across Pan Macmillan, with the first books appearing in 2027.
Pan Macmillan has been the headline sponsor of the BBBF for four years and, in 2023, BBBF and Pan Macmillan launched Writers on the Rise – a programme for aspiring Black British authors, which connects writers with editors, providing one-to-one mentorship and industry guidance.
Selina Brown, founder of the BBBF, said: “When I started the Black British Book Festival in 2021, it was about creating a platform where Black British writers could be seen, celebrated and supported. Four years on, to be collaborating with Pan Macmillan, one of the UK’s biggest publishers, on a new community-led publishing model is a full-circle moment and a powerful step forward. This collaboration is about reimagining how publishing can work: putting community, access and authenticity at the heart of decision-making. Together, we’re building a model that doesn’t just publish books for the community but with the community, creating space for new voices, new audiences and new possibilities.”
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