Press Information
About Us
At Snowbooks, we have always believed that the key to success is a fresh approach. We didn't enter the world of publishing with any notions of 'right' and 'wrong.' We had firmly founded ideas of what might work, but flexibility and innovation have been essential to our success. And we do consider ourselves successful: we're honest and scrupulous, and we're immensely proud of every book we publish.
We think about the nature of publishing a great deal, and capture these thoughts on our SnowBlog, for instance here, here and here.
In 2007 we are publishing 29 books, which will bring our total books in print to 60. We sell primarily through shops and have excellent relationships with both large and small online and bricks and mortar retailers. We also sell ebooks and mobile phone books via I-CUE, and have sold foreign rights in our books to to more than 15 countries.
We are active members of the Independent Publishers Guild and we are ONIX and e4books compliant.
Timeline
March 2003 Snowbooks founded by Emma Barnes and Rob Jones
November 2003 Gilly Barnard joins as Publisher
May 2004 Snowbooks publishes first book - Adept by Robert Finn
January 2005 Anna Torborg joins as Publisher
March 2005 SnowBlog launched
May 2005 James Bridle joins as Publisher
December 2005 Snowbooks tipped as 'One to Watch' in Bookseller
March 2006 Emma voted onto board of IPG
May 2006 Snowbooks wins Small Publisher of Year Nibbie. (Read more about that here, here, and here.)
June 2006 Emma Barnes named as one of Management Today's 35 women under 35
September 2006 Snowbooks gains e4books accreditation
December 2006 Snowbooks opens Second Life store
January 2007 Snowbooks awarded £25,000 Arts Council grant
January 2007 Emma invited to become Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.
February 2007 Emma meets the Queen at a reception for successful business women at Buckingham Palace
March 2007 Snowbooks shortlisted for Independent Trade Publisher of the Year at inaugural IPA awards
March 2007 Emma shortlisted for Young Publisher of the Year Nibbie
The Team
Anna Torborg
Publisher
Anna manages over half of the Snowbooks list and specialises in editing, cover design and layout. She also manages our US PR, since she is based in Minnesota. Anna joined Snowbooks straight from University and worked for a year on a work permit in the UK before returning home to set up Snowbooks' US office. She also runs her own craft blog, www.twelve22.org.
Emma Barnes
Managing director
Emma’s background is in buying and consultancy. Prior to co-founding Snowbooks, she was a retail management consultant at Deloitte and Touche, where she undertook a variety of projects in many retailers including Retek and SAP implementations, process improvement, labour scheduling and cost reduction. Previously, as a Kingfisher graduate, she worked for Superdrug in stores, logistics, business planning, merchandising and buying. After a secondment at Procter and Gamble, she moved to B&Q;, where she was a Buyer for various categories. She is currently reading for an Open University degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She manages about a third of the Snowbooks list and runs the company, being responsible for sales, production, finance, rights and marketing.
Rob Jones
Chairman
Rob has fourteen years' experience in retail and consultancy and is a founding director of Snowbooks. Previous roles include the restructuring of a major retailer’s buying model and various cost reduction projects. Rob’s operational roles include merchandise management and space planning in Superdrug. Rob has also taken time out to achieve advanced degrees in molecular modelling and biotechnology. Rob manages Snowbooks' IT as well as directing our strategy.
Snowbooks Alumni
Gilly Barnard
Publisher
Gilly joined Snowbooks as a new graduate in 2003 and managed various titles during her three and a half years with the company. She now works in media sales.
James Bridle
Publisher
James joined Snowbooks in 2005 after doing time in the Sciences and the Wine industry. He now manages the leading website www.booktwo.org and works as a consultant.
Louis Wustemann Director Louis helped us get Snowbooks off the ground. He is now an important managing editor of a magazine at LexisNexus.