Braindance Books might be a new company but our team has a lot of experience in helping authors improve their craft and develop their work.
With our expertise we can rejuvenate books that have been forgotten or ignored, helping readers to discover and enjoy them.
As a company with a highly-selective list of authors we can devote precious time to improving every one of the books we work with to ensure they have the right quality to attract and engage readers.
Get to know us...
Our mission
Our vision
Publishing is a mix of creativity and the bottom line. It is also a competitive space with so many books vying for readers' attentions. Our mission is to breathe new life into great books that have been overlooked. We are a team of passionate book lovers and publishing professionals keen to work with talented authors and share their stories with readers.
We aim to ensure the best authors receive the recognition they deserve and enjoy an equal stake in the success that comes from this. Our respect for creativity, and specifically the craft of storytelling, lies at the heart of our desire to maintain a democratic view of publishing, a vision that recognises our authors as partners in all aspects of the publication process.
Braindance Books was founded by Rupert Wallis and Ahmad Abu-el-ata, friends since their student days at the University of Cambridge. They bring experience and expertise to the creative and commercial approaches that feed into the business model of Braindance Books:
Rupert has published five novels with Simon & Schuster across a wide number of territories and is Co-Director of the Creative Writing Master's programme at the University of Cambridge on which he teaches, workshops and helps students develop their work in 1:1 sessions. He previously taught at the University of Falmouth and for the Faber Academy. He is also a screenwriter and has lived and worked in Los Angeles, writing projects for a number of production companies.
Rupert will lead on the creative side of Braindance Books, working with authors to develop their stories and co-ordinating the editing process in a hands-on role. His experience as a teacher of creative writing, a published author and working screenwriter gives him a natural feel for the craft of fiction in tandem with a keen commercial grasp of storytelling. He also understands how to nurture authors, helping them to improve their craft, to build a strong enough creative platform to sustain a writing career.
Rupert holds a BA in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MFA in Screenwriting and Writing for Television from the University of Southern California.
Ahmad has worked at a range of blue chip organisations, including PwC, the Monitor Group and Merrill Lynch. In 2007 he established his own firm, Simpacta Limited, that provides strategic, operational and financial planning and implementation supports for small- and medium-sized businesses and NGOs. His extensive experience in building and nurturing long term client relationships throughout his professional career informs the way in which we engage and work with our authors at Braindance Books.
Ahmad leads the market facing aspects of the book publishing process, engaging with our team of associate experts in areas such as book design, author platform and digital marketing. He will collaborate with each author to develop a tailored book launch and marketing strategy, coordinating elements such as digital comms, dynamic pricing, ARCs, reader magnets, reader engagement and author mailing lists. Ahmad also leads on our internal operations to monitor book launches and sales so that we can keep our authors up to date and continually consider how to improve our marketing approach in an informed way.
Ahmad holds a BA in computer science and management studies from Cambridge University and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
