FINALISTS
WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 29EMILY FOLKS
Publishing sales director
Andrews McMeel, Kansas City, Mo.I
n less than a decade, Folks has risen from intern to a key
sales position for managing e-commerce, mass market,
and wholesale retail channels, in particular Amazon and
Walmart. According to v-p of publishing sales Lynn
McAdoo, Folks excels at positioning AMP to succeed in
a retail market that continues to shift from traditional
bricks-and-mortar stores to e-commerce retailers.
Among Folk’s responsibilities are selling AMP’s full line
of 275 calendars each year and those of Rizzoli/Universe,
AMP’s client publisher. She also handles marketing for
Amazon from top to bottom, for all of AMP’s books. Her
other accounts include Walmart; Kohl’s; Bed, Bath and
Beyond; Sam’s Club; BJ’s; and other national chains.McAdoo credits her with even more. “Emily has a natural
ability to identify and champion trends, particularly ones
that appeal to millennial audiences, as well as to transform
them into new products or formats that will appeal to both
retailers and end consumers.”
A case in point is Thoughts of Dogs, AMP’s current top-
selling calendar, which will be released as a book in the
spring. Created by Matt Nelson, Thoughts of Dogs was origi-
nally a Twitter account, in which Nelson posted what Folks
calls “really adorable little daily thoughts from a dog.” It fit
the bill for the company’s goal of “always striving to find
creators who have a unique voice, speak to different audi-
ences, and can really share powerful content.” She knew that
Dogs was popular, but even she was surprised that when
Nelson tweeted about the upcoming book, the response was
so overwhelming that it crashed the AMP website.
Folks was also a part of the product-development teamfor AMP’s line of Posh: Organized Living Planners, which
was launched in 2017. The team had already identified an
emerging trend in planner use, especially among younger
women. In response to this trend, McAdoo recounts,
“Emily conducted extensive research and held focus groups
with the target market and worked to develop this suc-
cessful product line.”
Other endeavors that Folks is involved in include
revamping Nancy comics, which are distributed by Andrews
McMeel Syndication. “We’re taking Nancy into the 21st
century.” New books and comic strips “will have the nos-
talgia, but Nancy is being modernized,” Folks says.
Another project is the publication of Sorry I’m Late, I
Didn’t Want to Come by Jessica Tang, which Folks describes
as a kind of memoir. Tang decided to live her life for a year
as an extrovert, even though she’s very introverted. The book
delves into self-help and personal transformation, a category
the company is “very interested in and passionate about,”
Folks says. “We’re seeing a lot of positive responses from
consumers and retail buyers for it.”
For all their brands, she is spending a lot of time
establishing standards for major ones such as Disney
Unicorn, so that “when you’re looking at books on an
e-commerce platform—you get this look and feel
down. We’re looking to implement that into our
Amazon strategy,” Folks says.
Folks doesn’t stop when the workday ends.
Representing Andrews McMeel Universal, she is on
the board of GenKC, a Kansas City organization for
young professionals that provides professional devel-
opment, community involvement, and networking
opportunities. Last year, her main project was imple-
menting Breakfast, Books & Buddies, an ongoing
before-school reading program at inner-city schools.
Her job was to manage the biweekly sessions, in
which a volunteer reads with a child who may not neces-
sarily have an opportunity outside of school to have
someone read with them every day. “It’s a great opportunity
to see that books are super important to kids,” Folks says,
“and to be there for them and see how much literature can
impact their lives. It’s really fulfilling.”
While some might see being located in the Midwest, far
from publishing’s hub in New York, as a liability, Folks sees
it as an asset. She notes that she has been at the company for
the full 10 years of her career. “If I were in New York, that
probably wouldn’t be the case. You get to learn a lot about
a company when you have the ability to work for them for
so long,” she adds. “And you learn how to move forward and
contribute more.” Folks also enjoys bringing the company’s
authors to Kansas City and introducing them to “a little bit
of a different world than what they may be used to.” And,
she says with pride, “We have lots of barbecue here, too.”