BOOKS NEWS EVENTS ABOUT Autumn 2021 New books from Head of Zeus, July to December 2021 VIEW CATALOGUE We Are HoZ Head of Zeus is an award-winning independent publisher of genre fiction, narrative nonfiction and children’s books. We are based in Clerkenwell, London, but our reach is global. We have published 93 (and counting) #1 bestsellers around the world, won 21 literary prizes and two industry awards. All our writers, whether debut author or Sunday Times bestseller, are published in digital, print and audio formats with a zeal that merges talent with tradecraft and technology. A BRIEF HISTORY Head of Zeus sprung into existence on 3rd January 2012 in an attic just off Seven Dials in central London. We comprised five people, three desks and a chair. Over the next 100 days, we commissioned 100 books and published our first three titles in print and eBook in July. We were at the forefront of the eBook revolution. In 2013, seven Head of Zeus authors spent a total of 216 days in the top three of the Amazon.co.uk bestseller chart. In 2015 we won Digital Business of the Year at the British Book Awards. The Bookseller commented: “Digitally led but with print very much in mind, Clerkenwell-based Head of Zeus might just be setting the template for trade publishers of the future to follow.” In 2017 we won Independent Publisher of the Year. The judges said “From start-up to profitable multi-million pound business in just four years, Head of Zeus is one of the brightest stars of trade publishing – a textbook example of using e-books to get traction. But what most impressed the judges was how it has pivoted from a digital-focused list to a true hybrid... Head of Zeus is enjoying steep print growth through the TCM.” Now eight years old, HoZ is an established independent with a clear sense of identity and purpose. We aspire to innovate and lead rather than imitate and follow. TALENT At the heart of HoZ are our authors. We publish writers from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Serbia and China. Our authors write biographies, crime novels, romances, popular science, thrillers, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, cook books, children's books, contemporary and literary fiction. We have a proven track record in promoting new writers but also believe that there is no such thing as an ‘old’ book to a ‘new' audience, and have republished many ‘backlist’ or out-of-print titles to great success. TRADECRAFT With a team of 30, Head of Zeus has in-house experts in editorial, design, production, sales, marketing, publicity and rights. We’re all avid readers who care about writing – many of us are authors in our own right. So far, we’ve helped 4 writers reach more than one million readers. We’ve sold 25 million books, leading to the extravagant factoid that, assuming an average of 10 hours per book, the human race has spent some 30 millennia reading HoZ books. We specialise in subjects and categories where we know we can excel and earn recognition as a market leader -- whether medieval history or historical adventure, saga or SF, children's fiction or nature writing. TECHNOLOGY Born in the digital age, we’ve been able to harness the best technologies on offer to leverage our trade expertise. We’ve designed and built our own custom bibliographic and sales reporting systems. Everyday our custom ’bot — HoZ9000 — trawls the web, reporting back on chart positions, discounts and availability. We have an unbroken record of Book Industry Communication Gold Product Data Excellence Plus awards. We also take great pride in our printed books. From paper stock to binding materials, book ribbons to cover finishes, we invest to ensure our books look better than the competition. After all, if we can't produce beautiful books, what's the point of being a publisher? A History of HoZ in Just 10 Books An almost impossible task, but each one of these was a HoZ publishing landmark... FIND OUT MORE About Our Name Why We Are Head of Zeus Back in 2012, our Chairman wrote this blog, describing just how we happened across such an excellent company name... I've been sitting in a darkened room, rocking quietly back and forth, since Broadhurst, doyenne of The Bookseller's Paperback Previews, described our company in her column as "the ludicrously named Head of Zeus". It's probably not a good idea to bandy words with Sarah B, whose occasional acidity is more than matched by her acuity. But I shall make a full and frank confession of how our name came to be. The Head of Zeus is first and foremost a tribute to the awesome genius of the Ancient Greeks who laid the foundations of western civilization. The books they left behind are the core backlist of western literature and much else. I used to own a handsome B format edition of Homer's ➔ Author Endorsements ‘My book had a beautifully designed cover in gold leaf, a silk bookmark, a high resolution map, and page break icons that actually refer to the book’s content. When I recovered the ability to speak I raved about it to Nic Cheetham, and he said, “Dana, if we can’t make beautiful books, why are we in this business at all?” No publisher had ever said anything remotely like that to me before – I told Nic that Head of Zeus had ruined all other publishers for me. “Well, that was our evil plan,” he admitted.’ Dana Stabenow ‘In the years that I have been with Head of Zeus, they have shown a singular understanding of my target markets, and they have built up my worldwide readership again to impressive levels so that new life has been breathed into my career. They are very special publishers.’ Graham Masterton ‘After my experience of being published by one of the big four, working with Head of Zeus has been a ➔ BUY £6.99 Prizes and Shortlists 2013: Something You Are by Hannah Jameson, shortlisted for the CWA's John Creasey New Blood Award 2013: The Sentinel by Mark Oldfield, shortlisted for the CWA's Ian Fleming Silver Dagger 2014: How We Invented Freedom and Why it Matters by Daniel Hannan, winner of the Paddy Power Political Book Awards Polemic of the Year 2015: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, winner of the Hugo Best Novel Award 2016: Red Dirt by E. M. Reapy, winner of the Irish Book Award The Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year 2017: After Ireland by Declan Kiberd, shortlisted for the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards Onside Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2017: Death's End by Cixin Liu, shortlisted for the Hugo Best Novel Award 2017: Death's End by Cixin Liu, winner of the Locus Science Fiction Novel of the Year Award 2017: Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky, ➔ BUY £0.99 Head of Zeus Teams Up With Pop-Up Submissions® The search for our next bestseller starts here Pop-Up Submissions® is a live YouTube show hosted by literary agent and No. 1 bestselling author Peter Cox. Each week, Peter is joined by two guests from the publishing business to review five manuscript submissions live, on-air. The team is aided by a lively (and often very funny) chat room, consisting of members of Litopia®, the net’s oldest community for writers, which Cox established more than two decades ago. We are delighted to announce that each month’s winner from Pop-Ups will go directly to Head of Zeus for serious publishing consideration. Two Pop-Up alumni authors – Mark Knowles and Tim Hodkinson – have already won ➔ HEAD OF ZEUS CONTACT DETAILS Publicity publicity@headofzeus.com For all media and event enquiries. Home Sales sales@headofzeus.com UK trade orders may be placed with Macmillan Distribution: orders@macmillan.co.uk; +44 (0)1256 302 699 Export Sales export@headofzeus.com Export trade orders can be placed with Macmillan Distribution: exportorders@macmillan.com +44 (0)1256 302 890 IRELAND Gill Hess Ltd 16 Church Street Skerries, Co Dublin Ireland t: +353 (1) 8491 801 e: gillhess@iol.ie EUROPE, FAR EAST & MIDDLE EAST Peter Newsom c/o Head of Zeus Ltd t: +44 (0)20 8341 0956 m: +44 (0)7540 079 911 e: peter.newsom@hotmail.com AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND HarperCollins Publishers Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia t: +61 (2) 9952 5000 e: orders@harpercollins.com.au UNITED STATES & CANADA Trafalgar Square Publishing Independent Publishers Group 814 N. Franklin Street Chicago, IL 60610, USA t: +1 (312) 337 0747 e: frontdesk@ipgbook.com SOUTH AFRICA Jonathan ➔ Rights rights@headofzeus.com For our Spring 2020 fiction rights catalogue, please click here. For our Spring 2020 non fiction rights catalogue, please click here. For our Zephyr Spring 2021 children's books catalogue, please click here. For our Autumn 2021 catalogue, click here. Stream Me HoZ audiobooks now on tap FIND OUT MORE Subscribe to our newsletter! Email Address * SUBSCRIBE WE ARE HOZ Head of Zeus opened for business on 3 January 2012 and we published our first books six months later. In 2015 we won Digital Publisher of the Year and in 2017 we won Independent Publisher of the Year. If you want to know why we are called Head of Zeus, enquire here. CONTACT US 5-8 Hardwick Street 1st Floor East London EC1R 4RG +44 207 253 5557 Registered number: 7769235 VAT number: GB122496619 INFORMATION About HoZ Press Enquiries Sales Enquiries Rights Enquiries Work With Us AI Generator PR Generator Catalogue Generator CATALOGUES Spring 2022 Autumn 2021 Spring 2021 Autumn 2020 Spring 2020 Autumn 2019 Spring 2019 Autumn 2018 Spring 2018 Autumn 2017 Spring 2017 Autumn 2016 Spring 2016 Autumn 2015 Spring 2015 Autumn 2014 Spring 2014 Autumn 2013 Spring 2013 2012 LINKS HoZ on Facebook HoZ on Twitter HoZ on YouTube HoZ on Instagram HoZ on Bookshop.org Head of Zeus © 2021 Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy