60 Always in our good books! Rachel Macphail, Head of UK Sales talks to Craft Focus about their award-winning titles and a new range of notebooks coming out in 2025! For those that are new to the scene, tell us a little backstory about David & Charles. We are a multi award winning independent non-fiction publisher. Our books support creative people to develop skills and knowledge across a wide range of hobbies and interests. We’re well known for beautifully designed books, often with a focus on high quality, clear step-bystep instructions. The company has evolved over time – what are the main changes? David & Charles was founded in Devon over 60 years ago. During that time, we’ve had various owners, strategies and even a name change. A management buy-out in 2019 from F&W Media saw the welcomed return to our original name. This more recent ownership change means our culture is now that of a new UK start up, but with experience gleaned from a rich publishing legacy. In February, we welcomed the publishing company Veloce into the D&C family. Veloce specialise predominantly in books for motor enthusiasts and are based in Dorset. Talk us through the new titles you are particularly excited about. Do you have a favourite? We currently publish around 60 books and related product per year, so it’s tricky to narrow it down! Knitting Peter Rabbit is an incredibly beautiful awardwinning title, so we’re all enormously proud of that one. Our licence partnership with Pokémon is going from strength to strength with four more books/kits releasing this year. Lastly, I’d say the first title in our new series Stitch Stars. We launch in July with ‘Harry’ (Styles) and this is followed by ‘Taylor’ (Swift) in 2025. These are fun, beginner friendly gift titles aimed at a slightly younger market, so I look forward to seeing what new sales opportunities they bring us. What book is currently selling well? Our title with the highest sales this year to date is Mix and Match Crochet Blankets by Esme Crick. Crochet is an extraordinarily strong craft category for us. How would you advise a retailer who is interested in stocking your products? Anyone interested in stocking our books, kits, journals, card decks or bookazines can get in touch directly to open a trade
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