The Booksellers Association today announced the retirement of Director of Strategy & Communications Alan Staton after over 20 years with the company, where he began as Head of Marketing in 2004 before being promoted to his current role in 2018. Staton began his career at Bertram Books, where he spent eight years as Marketing Manager.
 
During his tenure, Staton played an integral role in many of the Booksellers Association’s most successful moments and milestones; positively impacting every corner of the business with his strategic thinking, creative and commercial approach, iconoclastic tendencies  and relationship-building skills.
 
During his early years at the Booksellers Association, Staton worked on World Book Day as Company Secretary, oversaw the Christmas Books project, looked after the Whitbread and then Costa Awards, alongside being involved in numerous big literacy projects of the day, such as the BBC Big Read.
 
Most significantly, Staton led on liaising with booksellers across the devolved nations of the UK as well as Ireland and consequently coordinated, curated and expanded the Booksellers Association’s calendar of conferences and events for all members across the UK and Ireland. Alongside, building and skilfully managing relationships with literacy charities, arts organisations, social enterprises, retail bodies and book trade partners on numerous fruitful collaborations and many joint successes.
 
As an integral part of the Bookseller Association’s leadership team, Staton spearheaded some of the organisation’s most successful strategic moves - being fundamental in taking the Nero Book Prize from pitch to reality in 2023, acquiring staple bookshop magazine Booktime from Bertrams in 2020, launching the consumer campaign Books Are My Bag in 2013 and creating the accompanying Books Are My Bag Readers Awards in 2016; establishing it as the first literary awards voted for by the public.
 
Staton’s last day will be 27^th June and he will be, as usual, running the events programme at London Book Fair – for those who wish to give him their best wishes in person.
 
Alan Staton said: “I rather fell in to the book trade. After coming out of university as a mature student – as a fellow mature graduate put it; “too old to get a good job, too qualified to get a bad one” – I found my way via working as a Christmas temp at Bertrams, to the Booksellers Association. The Booksellers Association immediately seemed like home to me, welcoming me as they found me and appreciating what I could contribute. For 35 years I’ve worked alongside booksellers and mostly been lost in appreciation for the incredible work that they do. It’s an amazing industry to work in. We tend to take for granted regularly coming into contact and conversation with the influential and the famous, from world-renowned authors to a whole spectrum of talented people with their own stories to tell. But much more than the occasional brush with fame, I will miss the day-to-day contact with the talented behind-the-scenes people within our industry who make everything happen. I will miss my friends and colleagues at the Booksellers Association and across the bookselling and publishing world throughout the UK and Ireland.”
 
Meryl Halls, Managing Director of the Booksellers Association said: “Alan and I have worked together for the last 21 years, and I’ve never ceased to be impressed by his unique combination of skills.    He’s a loyal, compassionate colleague, always being led by his concern for our members, and our team.   He’s a unique thinker, never shy of expressing an unpopular opinion or a counter argument – and, annoyingly, is almost always right in his assessments.   He’s brilliant at spotting opportunities for the Booksellers Association to grab, and has an intellectual rigour and curiosity that we will miss enormously.   He seeks out the off-pitch idea and pursues it, and has been in the background of all the major work we have done over the last two decades, shaping and influencing all that we do.   We will miss him hugely – his ready laugh and his raging hunger for facts and opinions are a constant on our team – and I will also personally miss his kindness and his company.  We wish him well – he deserves a long and happy retirement with Frances, Ruby, Eve and his extended family.”