Hachette UK to launch Feminist Book Box subscription service

One of the key pillars of Hachette UK’s strategy is ‘owner mentality’ and in an industry first, staff from across the publisher’s trade divisions are launching a monthly subscription book service in March 2021.  The Feminist Book Box will highlight the best in feminist writing and storytelling across its ten divisions, which include Hodder and Stoughton, Little, Brown and Orion.

The box will include a beautiful package of two paperback titles from a list submitted by divisional publishing teams and handpicked by a diverse staff panel from across Hachette UK. The monthly package will also include specially commissioned artwork and offer members exclusive extras direct from the author and the publishing team, including: a Feminist Book Box members-only virtual book club with the author, author interviews and editorial insights. There are multiple subscription offers available, ranging from three to twelve months, and there is also a gifting option.

As well as representing the very best in feminist writing, Hachette UK is committing to working with creatives from under-represented groups to produce artwork and materials for the books, and forge partnerships across the media and with charities to make the Feminist Book Box truly inclusive.

The inaugural box, launching 8th March 2021, in time for International Women’s Day, has been developed in conjunction with Virago, showcasing the best writing from the feminist imprint under the theme ‘forgotten women from history’. The chosen two titles will be announced at launch. The books in further boxes will contain fiction, non-fiction and poetry titles for the general reader by writers who are women or from other underrepresented genders, and explore some aspect of feminism, identity, equality and/or gender from the breadth of Hachette UK’s publishing list. The team of ten volunteers who select the books for the boxes will change every six months, to ensure that staff from all areas of the business are involved.

The Feminist Book Box is the first product to launch as a result of cross-divisional staff innovation at Hachette UK and there are plans in motion for further themed boxes to follow.

David Shelley, CEO Hachette UK, says: “I’m so excited to see the Feminist Book Box launch. I am really proud of the innovative, entrepreneurial team at Hachette UK who conceived this and made it a reality. I hope we will be able to add real value to readers with this subscription service and bring the work of feminist authors from across our lists to thousands of people around the UK.”

Bethan Ferguson, Marketing Director Quercus and FBB Project leader, says: “I feel incredibly lucky to have been part of this project, which has brought so many talented and motivated people together from across Hachette. The FBB will give us the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing feminist writers on our lists, as well as bringing readers closer to the authors and publishing teams behind them.”

Sarah Savitt, Virago Publisher, says: “The heart of Virago is our relationship with our readers and our writers, and the Feminist Book Box is an exciting way for us to bring them even closer together. I’m thrilled of course that the first box is a special Virago collaboration, but it’s also been really inspiring to work with a passionate, diverse group of feminist book lovers from across Hachette to get this project off the ground. We can’t wait to share our favourite feminist books with our subscribers.”

In addition, to celebrate the launch and celebrate feminist writing, The Feminist Book Box and Virago have launched a survey to find the UK’s favourite feminist book. Results will be announced on International Women’s Day, 8th March 2021. Details on how to take part and claim a 10% discount on a FBB subscription can be found here: http://bit.ly/UKsFavouriteFeministBook.

A Feminist Book Box subscription starts at £60 for 3 months. For more information please visit: thefeministbookbox.com.

For media and promotional enquiries please contact:

Maura.Wilding@orionbooks.co.uk 07915388571

Hayley.Camis@littlebrown.co.uk 07824547008