United Kingdom
Sophie is an industry-leading publicist who has worked in public relations within the book publishing industry for 15 years. Her work has appeared on over 20 shortlists for book industry awards. She launched a public relations company, Calder Publicity, in 2023 to high profile coverage in the books trade. Her campaign for vegan cookbook, BOSH!, won both Publishers’ Publicity Circle and Future Book Awards. She co-created the UK's first ever hybrid book event, The Gollancz Festival, which won the Hachette PR and Marketing Award. She is proud to have represented Sunday Times bestselling fiction authors such as Adele Parks, B.A. Paris, Joanne Harris, and Stephen King. She has also directed PR for household names including Joe Wicks, Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York, Claudia Winkleman, June Sarpong, Tom Daley and Jonathan Ross. Sophie has chaired the Publishers’ Publicly Circle, was selected as a future leader at HarperCollins Publishers and has spoken at London Book Fair amongst others. Sophie is motivated by expanding her knowledge-base, growing her network, and by sharing those learnings and connections with others. She's on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn @calderpublicity.
‘Sophie is an industry-leading publicist – results-driven with a huge focus on author care. I’m so impressed by the campaigns she has delivered for Bonnier, and I know our authors have been suitably delighted with Sophie’s work on their books. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with Sophie again.’ - Lucy Richardson, Publicity Director, Bonnier Books ‘I couldn’t recommend Sophie enough. She is an exceptional and consistent publicist: creative, dedicated, and always delivers results. She provides exceptional author care and is brilliant at dealing with internal stakeholders too.’ - Leanne Oliver, Publicity Director, Orion Publishing Group ‘Sophie is consistently creative, dynamic and thorough with her campaigns. A consummate professional, she leaves no stone unturned, and the breadth of coverage she achieves is unparalleled. She is a safe pair of hands that I trust with all levels of campaign.’ - Emily Burns, Publicity Director, HarperCollins 'The best in the business’ - Omid Scobie 'A real pro: motivated, unflappable and well-connected. I couldn’t believe her work ethic and what she managed to achieve.’ - Mari Hannah ‘Cheerful, efficient, and an absolute joy to work with – every time Sophie’s name popped up in my inbox I knew something great was about to happen.’ - Lynda Marron 'Proactive, professional, and hugely supportive, Sophie has helped me with my author branding and with getting my latest book out there. I couldn’t have done it without her.' - B.A .Paris 'Sophie was a delight to work with. Positive, enthusiastic and very supportive. She left no stone unturned in the quest to find the best possible PR opportunities for my debut novel. Thank you Sophie‘ - Leeanne O’Donnell 'Sophie is not only delightful to work with, but came up with lots of inventive ideas to ensure a PR campaign for the launch of a book series that far exceeded my expectations. I can't recommend her highly enough.’ - Josie Lloyd
Reporting to the Managing Director, I was in the leadership team of the HQ, Mills & Boon and Pavilion division. I played a pivotal role in launching HQ, which rapidly became one of the biggest new imprints in the UK. Recruited to build the publicity team for the new division, I was later promoted to also oversee the design studio. Key publicity campaigns included: - Positioned health and fitness coach Joe Wicks as an expert in mental wellbeing. With 13 broadcast interviews, a media reach of over a billion, and a national tour, Feel Good Food was the fastest and highest selling new cookbook of the year. - Managed the publicity for Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York’s first novel for adults, Her Heart for a Compass. With sales driven by 11 press interviews and countless news stories, it was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller. - Handled UK media relations for the biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. The book was a UK industry Number 1 bestseller. - Devised a new PR approach that helped propel Adele Parks to the Sunday Times Number 1 spot. - Launched debut vegan cookbook BOSH! by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby with a multi-award-winning campaign that included a hybrid festival in Borough Market. The book was the highest selling cookbook of the year. - Directed the PR for June Sarpong's award-winning first book, Diversify. The campaign supported June in her journey to become one of the world's leading DE&I executives. Testimonials: ‘the best PR campaign I’ve ever seen. I’ve been everywhere’ Joe Wicks ‘There can barely have been a person in Britain that didn’t know about it’ Katy Brand ‘A tireless, innovative and unmissable campaign…we’ve had it all’ BOSH! ‘So many people said to me ‘Your book is EVERYWHERE!’ I couldn’t have hoped for more’ Adele Parks ‘You've been absolutely brilliant, so patient, so supportive… it's all been a total joy and that's down to you.’ T Orr Munro
I was responsible for devising and implementing publicity campaigns across the Gollancz, Orion and W&N lists. I worked with debut and bestselling commercial fiction authors including Joanne Harris, Joe Hill, Victoria Aveyard, Ben Aaronovitch, Brandon Sanderson and Charlaine Harris. Campaigns included: - Launching Joanne Harris's first adult fantasy novel The Gospel of Loki (Gollancz, February 2014) - Co-creating the UKs first ever traditional and digital book event, The Gollancz Festival (August 2014.) We have delivered two effective events that met and exceeded their objectives. The Gollancz Festival 2015 (October 2015) featured 59 authors, reached 18 million on Twitter, sold 800+ tickets, and drove sales of 14,000+ print and ebooks - Working with online retailer Bookomi to manage the world’s first live streamed ‘buy-to-view’ global launch for Tim Minchin’s Storm (W&N, October 2014) - Collaborating with charity, City Reads London, to promote Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (April 2015). - Handling the publicity for Joe Hill's dystopian thriller The Fireman (June 2016). Testimonials: "You're one of the best PR people I've ever worked with" Elizabeth Bear, Hammered "You've done a great job in getting my work reviewed and noticed, as well as supporting the whole of the Gollancz writers' group" Justina Robson, the Quantum Gravity series "I'm very grateful indeed for all the support you've given and press you've generated" Al Robertson, Crashing Heaven “Working with the team at Orion on Cityread 2015 has been a mutually rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable experience...they went above and beyond our brief in supporting Ben on his epic library tour” Andy Ryan, City Reads “I thought the GollanczFest was a roaring, unqualified success” Pat Cadigan, Synners “The thanks should be for you: GollanczFest is a hell of a thing to organise” Ian McDonald, Luna “I can only salute the GollnczFest team for your amazing endurance” Jon Wallace, Barricade
I devised and co-ordinated the publicity and communications strategy for an independent publisher specialising in genre fiction, film, TV & music and illustrated books. I managed the press office and delivered publicity campaigns for an array of debut and established SF&F, YA and crime fiction writers as well as for non-fiction authors in the fields of entertainment, art and culture, including Stephen King, Jonathan Ross, Alan Moore and Vic Armstrong. Key campaigns included: - Launching the crime novel, Joyland, by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime, June 2013). - Managing the publicity campaign for TV presenter, Jonathan Ross, to promote his first graphic novel, Turf (Titan, July 2011) - Handling the PR for autobiography, The True Adventures of The World's Greatest Stuntman, by leading stuntman and action director, Vic Armstrong (Titan, April 2011) Testimonials: “I am so excited and happy at the success of my book which is in no small part due to Sophie Calder's advice and guidance through the whole publicity process…it was an amazing experience and Sophie guided me through it all with such grace and style. Sophie Calder is in my opinion a super star.” Vic Armstrong, Author of The True Adventures of the World’s Greatest Stuntman “Stephen King said that he was delighted with the publicity generated by Sophie Calder and thanked Titan for the wonderful job we've done….I showed him the photo of the popcorn machine and explained about the in-store events being set up in London...he loved it!” Stephen King via Editorial Director of Hard Case Crime, Charles Ardai
I independently managed a number of effective publicity campaigns for tie-in fiction, as well as narrative and illustrated non-fiction titles. I generated creative written and video content for the Titan Books blog, and managed social media accounts for Titan Books, including Twitter, Facebook and Good Reads Key campaigns included: - True crime novel, The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower, by Robert Graysmith (Titan, February 2010) - Illustrated art history title, The Art of Hammer, by Marcus Hearn (Titan, October 2010) Testimonials: "Sophie Calder is first-rate and knows how to publicize a book" Robert Graysmith, Author of The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower