The Penguin Blog

A day in the life of a week . . .

Penguin Blog — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:19:53 +0100

Two months ago during a not uneventful diversity committee meeting (oh, yes there’s a diversity committee here at Penguin, our objective is to think, eat, breath and do everything to make Penguin a diverse company, and publishing, a more diverse industry) we decided we wanted to have a really great diversity week at Penguin to really get everyone’s juices going about the things we talk about and do; but seeing as we’re not a bog-standard company we figured our week had to be slightly different from having cheese and crackers talks about diversity – so what we’ve aimed for is creating a sort of cultural festival balanced with a few talks and events throughout the week. We’ve gone out and found a fair few things to keep Penguins interested throughout the week, 28th July – 1st August.

On Monday, we’ve got an interesting gentleman from the Muslim Writers Awards speaking about the inspiration behind the awards. On Tuesday we’re transforming our sedate 10th floor space into a theatre to host the amazing Chickenshed Theatre Company who will be performing their critically acclaimed play ‘as the mother of a brown boy’. On Wednesday, we’ve invited our fellow publishers to sell some of their titles on a diversity of themes and by authors from diversity of backgrounds – and just to add something sublime to the day we’re holding a cake sale along with the booksale and all the proceeds will go to Scope. On Thursday (they can’t be avoided) we have some educational talks from two fantastic organisations that we work with, Scope, the disability rights charity and Stonewall, the gay rights organisation. On Friday, to round off the week, we’ve got three brilliant, up and coming artists from the London South Bank Centre’s Emerging Artists in Residence programme performing in our canteen in what promises to be a spectacular cross-fertilising performance of poetry and music. So all in all, a seriously good line-up of events, but you might be wondering, what does this all have to do with the price of fish? Or the price of books more specifically? Well, nothing . . . and everything.

The aim is to keep diversity week light and informational though we are dealing with some weighty topics. As one of the larger publishers we’re proactive in promoting diversity within the industry through various events and programmes, such as open days and internships. It’s quite important we keep everybody informed and committed – hence the reason for the week. Designing a poster that encapsulated all of this and still suggested something light and fun was tricky, we started with a tree and returned to our own visual identity – Penguins. Penguins in the wild are infinitely diverse and funny, charming creatures – what better way to illustrate diversity than to take some inspiration from these creatures and show them in all their diversity? So far, it seems to be working, people like the poster, but not everybody gets the story behind the little guy and his socks? Well, we all need special shoes sometimes to walk the same path.

As to whether the whole week is going to work – will people come? Will they like the free sandwiches? And will they learn anything? I’ll tell you that once I’ve ripped all my hair out – or better still when I report back here next week . . . till then, I’m really looking forward to hearing the EAR artists, watching Chickenshed’s performance, and picking up some new nuggets of knowledge or two from our speakers. (and the discount books); if any of you out there feel like coming along to some of these events, get a glimpse of what the week is about, drop me an email at penguindiversity@uk.penguingroup.com.

Best Regards,
Dele – The diversity communications guy

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The cinema of the theatre of the absurd

Penguin Blog — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:19:31 +0100

So, after some thought, I have decided to confess something to you good Penguin Blog readers.

I have mentioned my lowbrow tastes before – specifically my love of robots – and more specifically those robots that are in disguise. But I don’t just like populist trash. Recently I read Eugène Ionesco’s plays ‘Rhinoceros’, ‘The Chairs’ and ‘The Lesson’ (not for work, just because I'm, you know, classy). They are funny, startling and probably the best thing I have read all year. ‘The Lesson’ in particular left me stunned and upset and just amazed by how good it was.

But that isn’t the confession. After I had finished them, I was looking on Wikipedia and saw that a film based on ‘Rhinoceros’ came out in America in April. It is called Zombie Strippers! and features porn star Jenna Jameson (which I mention mainly to try and up our Google ranking a few notches) along with Robert Englund (who's most famous as Freddy Krueger).

So I got hold of a copy.

I don’t know what your first reaction is to a film called Zombie Strippers! I imagine it’s probably a bit of an opinion splitter. But I have a lot of time for comedy horror – things like Army of Darkness, Re-animator and From Dusk Till Dawn (which, actually, it wouldn’t have been much of a stretch to rename Zombie Strippers!). So I approached it with an open mind.

Boy, it’s not good.

The play is about a French town where people start giving themselves over to a craze of turning into rhinoceroses – great, lumbering, destructive rhinoceroses – to the dismay of Berenger, the central character.

The film is about zombie strippers.

‘Based on’ might be a bit of a stretch.

In fact, the film’s desperate to let you know that it’s not the dumb, silly trash it actually is, and thinks it can prove it has book smarts by calling the town it is set in Sartre, Nebraska and showing Jenna Jameson reading Nietzsche. This is like a proud parent trying to convince you their moron child is a genius by putting him in a paper hat made from a page of Das Kapital. And the claim that it’s ‘based on’ ‘Rhinoceros’ is pretty much just another part of this desperate grab for credibility.

Perhaps the most significant impact ‘Rhinoceros’ has on the film is that Englund’s strip club owner is called Ian Essko. (Ian Essko – Ionesco. Get it? DO YOU GET IT?) And while the play’s a comic satire about fascism, the film fumbles clumsily with some message about the zombies being conformists. And the one hope you’d have for a film called Zombie Strippers! – that it’s surely not going to be horribly pretentious – is ruined.

And while they were worried about looking smart, they didn’t put in any good jokes, so they managed to make a film that’s not funny, smart, scary or sexy.

That’s okay. Watch Army of Darkness instead, read ‘Rhinoceros’.

The problem is that about half way through it I realised that thanks to a TV series called Masters of Horror, it was actually not the first, but the second time I’d seen Robert Englund play the owner of a zombie strip club. Which says something troubling about my viewing habits.

So that’s the confession.

Alan
Copywriter

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Show your working

Penguin Blog — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:36:00 +0100

Alan
Copywriter

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Tagged Penguin

Penguin Blog — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:11:59 +0100

A little video we made using the wonderful Tag Galaxy.

Tagged Penguin from Penguin Books on Vimeo.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

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Five in Mind part twelve

Penguin Blog — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:48:38 +0100

Any Human Heart, by William Boyd

Any Human Heart is one of the best books I’ve read recently. I hadn’t heard of it before, and went to it on the recommendation of a friend. I wanted to know why she was raving about it – and now I can’t stop raving either! It is the most fantastic portrayal of a human life – a whole life, lived to the full over eighty years. Boyd switches from an arrogant seventeen year old to a nostalgic seventy year old with absolute ease. I couldn’t stand the character at first, but suddenly noticed half way through how much I’d grown to like him and sympathise with him – without knowing it. Therein I think lies Boyd’s exceptional skill at characterisation and empathy. By the end Logan Mountstuart feels like an old friend – one you’ll never forget.

A Sicilian Romance, by Mrs Radcliffe

What can I say about this novel? It’s unashamedly gothic and indulges every possible desire you could have for heroines, villains, towers, turrets and secret chambers! I read it years ago but still remember how the poetic writing and sometimes heavy atmosphere impressed me. The Marquis of Mazzini dies before he can confess to a crime connected with the family castle, but as strange happenings begin to occur the guests and relations become increasingly frightened and suspicious. Radcliffe is a mistress of suspense, and in this novel explores both the labyrinthine passages of Sicily’s castles and the haunting secrets of its aristocracy. – For every closet castle lover!

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

Ok…so I’m revealing my slightly gothic tendencies here! But what people often forget is that Victorian novels like this are simply fantastic reads, as well featuring on your reading list from way back when…. Of course you can’t ignore the fact that Victorian writers were prescient in their topics, often writing spookily insightfully on education, science, philosophy and morality. So, read Frankenstein as an allegory on the ‘noble savage’ and theories of civilisation, or simply as the spine-chilling story of a mad scientist, his gruesome experiments and a lonesome monster…..the choice is yours!

Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf

Mrs Dalloway epitomises for me the beauty of Virginia Woolf’s style. A ground-breakingly modern ‘stream-of-consciousness’ novel for its day, Woolf weaves multiple narratives together seamlessly, but never loses touch with any of her individual characters in view of the larger picture. The stories are both enchanting in their simplicity, and absolutely captivating in their eloquence, humanity and universality – whilst being equally sensitive to the era of their birth. There is no omniscience, no narrative relations – just the words that speak right to you and develop in your own mind. This book really resonates with my own world view – Woolf wonderfully captures the randomness of human thought and existence, whilst at the same time binding us together in our strange adventures through life. Stunning.

Shadow of the Sun, by Ryszard Kapuscinski

This incredible novel was gathered by Kapuscinski over forty years of research and travel – and is the best evocation of Africa that I have read. I was recommended it just before my gap year in East Africa…and then couldn’t wait to get there! It’s spell-binding and poetic, but nevertheless honest and real: it’s informative, but without lapsing into too much subjectivity, or condescension – the trap that I find many writers on Africa fall into. Kapuscinski’s descriptions bring all the sights, sounds, and even smells so vividly to mind. It is the only book I have read that even remotely manages to capture some of the magic of this incredible and diverse continent. I re-read bits of it when I want to conjure up my own memories and re-live them, yet it also never fails to bring new ideas to light and inspire me to want more. If you only read one book on Africa, this has got to be it.

Rachel Love
Editorial Coordinator, Penguin Classics

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Two weeks, thirty-six stores and fifty-three elephants

Penguin Blog — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:11:16 +0100

Last year we endured countrywide flooding, cancelled trains and a swan that attacked our car on the banks of Lake Windermere – so it was with some trepidation that I embarked on this year’s tour with Gervase Phinn to promote the publication of the paperback of ‘The Heart of the Dales’.

This year, as well as signing at 36 bookstores, performing at 8 events, we ate rock in Blackpool, saw dozens of plastic sheep in Liverpool, then dozens more plastic elephants in Norwich. We got lost in midnight Leeds (that one way system…), scared away a fox in a Secret Garden at dusk (that tiny brown smudge at the back of the garden is the exiting fox), and had to contend with some fairly adverse weather conditions on the road once again. I even managed to get Gervase into Lancashire, which for a Yorkshireman still smarting about the War of the Roses, was no mean feat. It turns out the best thing to come out of Lancashire ISN’T the road to Yorkshire after all – it’s the extremely lovely booksellers and bookshops there.

To say that I used Gervase’s time well is an understatement – the two week tour ranged across most of the length and breadth of the country, and Gervase signed at an average of 5 stores a day, followed by an event each evening. When I said goodbye to him yesterday at Exeter Station, I joked that I’d lied to him that this was the last day of the tour, and that in fact we had another 3 days of the tour to go. It turns out that only one of us should be making the jokes – and he’s the one selling out venues across the country each year, rather than the one holding the lead balloon.

It’s always nerve racking in those 2 minutes before the scheduled signing, approaching the bookstore not really knowing how enthusiastically the bookshop has been promoting the event in advance of the author’s visit. I won’t post mortem each signing and event – largely the signings were really well attended and really well promoted by the various wonderful booksellers at each store, but there’s always the inexplicable exceptions, where despite the hundreds of leaflets which have been picked up by enthusiastic book buyers, the posters everywhere, and the ads and author interviews going out in the local paper – you’ll get 4 people turning up with a large tumbleweed following along close behind. But these quieter ones were definite exceptions to the more general tour madness, and were in the most part linked to bad weather rather than a lack of enthusiasm by customers and/or booksellers. Sold out events and massive book sales in each evening venue testify to Gervase’s countrywide and long lasting general appeal.

A further few specific comments about the tour: to the friendly waiter in Pocklington who was sure that he knew me – I’m afraid we lied to you – you don’t know me off Casualty and I have never been swathed from top to toe in bandages on the telly. To Gervase and Barry – it turns out that Nobby Clark is also an accomplished musician as well as Morris Dancer, bell ringer, pub landlord and all round keen bean - who knew? And to the author sharing the stage with Gervase at one event, having read from his novel for 45 interminable minutes, and asked at 10pm ‘have I got time to read any more?’ – the answer is always going to be a resounding NO! Good lord…

The nice chart position in the top ten of last weekend’s bestseller lists is gratifying, and solidifies the raison d’etre for the 2 weeks away from home, however it’s meeting Gervase’s enthusiastic fans in every town that really makes it all worthwhile. Most people who meet Gervase tend to thank him for cheering them up; from the lady in Christchurch who had a brain haemorrhage last year and was kept going for many long weeks in hospital by listening to all the Dales audio books, to the woman in Derby who was pulled over by the police for suspected driving under the influence, but was in fact listening to Gervase and laughing so hard she was swerving all over the road. The policeman, it turned out, was also a fan, so let her off without charge.

Going on a book signing tour with an author is one of my main reasons for wanting to work in the publicity department of a company like Penguin. It’s incredibly hard work, but ultimately rewarding and, when you’re on the road with someone like Gervase, full of helpless laughter. Note: Evil Knievel was NOT the guy riding that bike in ‘Rebel Without a Cause’.

Katya Shipster
Press Officer

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Five in Mind part eleven

Penguin Blog — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:55:12 +0100

Distilling a life's worth of reading into a top five is, as the previous posts on the subject have revealed, pretty tricky. So to help with the task I decided to impose some limitations on my choice and pick my favourite five from my favourite genre ... The Great American Novel. So apologies to Rushdie, McEwan, Smith, Coetzee, Borges and co, but here they are ...

First up is Infinite Jest by American brainiac David Foster Wallace. This book is a beast. For a man that needs almost the entirety of a back cover to fit his endorsement for A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius, it comes as no surprise that his GAN is 1000+ pages. The book is a hilarious and terrifying indictment of modernity and DFW (he's a man in love with acronyms) explores pretty much everything from obsession and addiction to tennis. Simply put, this is the best thing I've ever read.

Picking just one Don Delillo book from the former adman's oeuvre is hard work. Underworld is a phenomenal achievement, but it's White Noise that is closest to my heart. Jack Gladney is the poster boy for postmodernist malaise as Delillo confronts consumerism, media, violence and death in this three act masterpiece of modern fiction.

I'm going to cheat a little here and go with Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. While technically three books (All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing and Cities on the Plain - all worthy of GAN status in their own right) The Border Trilogy as a whole gives a subtle, bleak, violent and beautiful look at the disappearing West. The penultimate scene in Cities on the Plain killed me.

Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth is completely unique. The lonely sadness of the loser son meeting his deadbeat dad for the first time is painstakingly played out in inventive Technicolor. Interested parties should also check out his monumental McSweeney's 13 (the signed cover of which hangs proudly on my wall at home).

And finally, another cheat. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is not technically a novel, but then it is not technically an autobiography either. McSweeney's mastermind and all round good egg Dave Eggers relates his formative years with gusto in a breathtaking reimagining of his parents death and his life thereafter. He is a real hero of mine, and in this book we see an explosion of ideas, narratives, passion and talent grounded in very a real tragedy, that truly justifies that rather extravagant title.

I could go on. It's a shame I didn't get a chance to mention Paul Auster, Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Richard Powers, Thomas Pynchon.

Matt Clacher,
Marketing Executive

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Guest Post from Penguin India: A book launch AND a cultural insight...

Penguin Blog — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:03:11 +0100

A special guest post from the newly created Penguin India blog.

Wednesday night saw the launch of T’ta Professor, written in Hindi by Manohar Shyam Joshi, and translated by Ira Pande, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. This was my second book launch since arriving in India, having attended the launch of Bela Lal’s Night of Kaamini last week. The great thing about these events for me as a foreigner is the chance to learn a bit about Indian literature, and the Indian culture and heritage behind these books. I also got to meet and talk to the enthusiasts who attended these launches, so I’ve really enjoyed these opportunities so far.

Following the unwrapping of the book by Manohar Shyam Johi’s wife, Bhagwati Joshi, the assembly was invited to enter into the world of T’ta Professor, before being treated to a fascinating sociological, historical and geographical insight into Kumaon from Pushpesh Pant and Ira Pande.

‘Funny and scatological; erotic and full of pathos; it’s about writers, writing and the art of storytelling; it’s a lampoon that turns dark when you least expect it; it’s crude and stylish all at once; it’s complex and sophisticated, T’ta Professor is a modern classic’, Diya Kar Hazra, editor of the book at Penguin India, enthusiastically divulged, and at this point, during the opening speeches, I for one, sat up and took notice. I was not alone.

Speaking passionately in both Hindi and English about the author, Manohar Shyam Joshi, Pushpesh Pant told a captivated audience that with the release of T’ta Professor in English, one of the finest novels of Indian literature, written by arguably the greatest modern Hindi novelist, had been translated by the best Hindi translator, Ira Pande.

Ira Pande explained that: ‘translating a book is like mothering a foster child; you care for them, nurture them, but at the end of the day they belong to someone else-this is Manohar Shyam Joshi’s book.’

In a remote Kumaoni village, schoolteacher Khashtivallabh Pant carries the Oxford English dictionary under one arm at all times, using it as a weapon of terror to inflict his supposed intellectual superiority over others. The narrator, a young Manohar Shyam Joshi, decides to pit Pant, mockingly referred to as T’ta Professor, against the Principal of the school in a battle of literary one-upmanship.

This comical excerpt of wit and word-play was read aloud by Ira Pande, much to the amusement of the audience. If you think you can tell us the meaning of words such as ‘northing’, ‘intenable’ or ‘logats’, without having to look them up in a dictionary, post your definitions below! (Answers here: northing, intenable, logats)

Unwilling to give too much of the plot away other than to say it was a testament to Joshi’s skill as a writer that this fun, satirical tale suddenly embraces a much darker, tragic tone, Pushpesh Pant and Ira Pande then turned to Kumaon.

I discovered the Kumaoni possessed a rich heritage of storytelling but also an equal amount of eccentricity, resulting in a flowering of imagination, or, as Ira put it: ‘high rates of literacy and lunacy!’ That these people originated from 7 or 8 clans who often inter-married meant these creative, expressive genes were never far away. Kumaoni writers such as Joshi, Sumitra Nandan Pant, Shivani (who happens to be Ira Pande’s mother), Mrinal Pande (Ira’s sister) and Pankaj Bisht were all mentioned in the same breath. In a lighter vein, also under discussion were the facial features of the Kumaoni people--that they either had high cheek bones and pointed noses or very flat features, of which Ira disclosed she belonged to the latter!

Ira mentioned that Mrs Bhagwati Joshi was very keen that Ira also translate the author’s novel Kasap but that she was not sure how she would take that on, considering she found it quite difficult to translating the very phrase ‘kasap’ (a sort of shrug of the shoulders) due to the fact that the Pahari (a range of dialects spoken across the Himalayan mountain range) has an oral tradition; a music of its own with many traits and nuances.

Pushpesh described T’ta Professor as a defining Manohar Shyam Joshi read; ‘spanning generations and also literatures, it takes you back to your lost childhood.’ Pushpesh also explained he wasn’t sure about the label ‘Kumaoni literature’, because to him, the recurring feature of the work was the mountains (pahar), so it could be called Pahari instead, ‘including Garhwal, because you can’t ignore Uttarakhand.’ The rest, he said, the non-Paharis, were all Deshis (of the plains).

As the appreciative audience applauded the evening’s speakers, we were told that when you read T’ta Professor as translated by Ira Pande, you forget what language it is in—the sign of a great collaboration. I for one can’t wait to find out.

Guy Fowles
Digital Marketing, Penguin Books India

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A word from an intern

Penguin Blog — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:21:55 +0100

After spending months polishing my CV, re-writing my cover letter and scanning the thesaurus for the most extravagant words that I could casually say during my interview for a place on the Pearson Diversity Internship, one would think that the week would begin smoothly. As I step onto the train wearing my Monday morning best, I glance at my fellow workers with a slight smile on my face, because I too have a destination to go to. But this tranquillity is quickly lost as I am pushed and then prodded by morning madams and busy businessmen running for their 8.50 a.m. train (despite the fact that work starts at 9 a.m.). This experience is enough to cause even the most tranquil individual to feel a little thrown off balance. Regardless of this, my first week as an intern within the Puffin Marketing and Publicity Team is fast becoming an interesting experience.

The creative flexibility that the team exercises is a trait that encourages even the most reclusive individual to speak out, be bold and share ideas. Since working on the team I have attended creative meetings where I have seen how marketing and publicity teams within publishing come up with creative and often unique promotional ideas. I have shared my ideas, worked extensively on the team’s online teenage website and helped promote new books, all in my first week!

But no other task has got my brain ticking more than my role working on Penguin’s latest venture, the Spinebreakers website. The site is an online community created by teens, for teens as a platform where they can share their love of reading and other creative mediums. The site showcases some of the most unique stories, poetry, songs and videos, all in an attempt to unite and encourage youths to read more and stand tall in their belief that reading is cool. I personally think such a site is much needed and is a breath of fresh air, especially when England has fast become a place for teen violence and crime, and using one’s imagination in a positive manner has now been replaced with the ease of picking a fight.

Spinebreakers is going offline at an up and coming road-show at the Roundhouse Studios in Chalk Farm, on the 25th of July. I have been fortunate enough to work on this event which will be inviting sixty teens to sign up and participate in three brilliant workshops which will include learning to use film equipment and creating a mini film on the day with Anton Saunders. There will be the opportunity to create a short story and receive practical tips on creative writing with journalist and Editor Emma Warren. There will also be the option to work with DJ and poet Charlie Dark who will inspire participants to transfer ideas from minds to paper and produce a soundtrack for a book. Music, food, drink (non-alcoholic of course!) and lots of creativity will be served up on a large platter throughout the day. This event is turning into one of the many highlights of my time at Penguin, because it will be a day when I will apply all my new skills.

So far, I can honestly say the internship is proving to be a good experience. If it is not the lure of the subsidised cafeteria, or the in-house ‘tea shop’ (as I like to call the kitchen), then it is the enjoyment of learning something new every day and gaining the opportunity to apply these skills to my work.

All of this and much more causes me to appreciate and soak up this experience.

Davelyn Thompson
Summer Intern

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Are Penguins Baked Beans?

Penguin Blog — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:25:24 +0100

Imaginatively titled London paper, The London Paper, yesterday ran an article listing 10 types of company deemed to be recession proof (baked beans manufacturers, dating websites…) and the 3 worst hit (estate agents…). Publishers didn’t appear on either, and we’re not about to diversify into baked beans as far as I know. So, with terrifying words such as recession and credit-crunch everywhere, what happens to the UK book industry? And what questions are we asking ourselves?

There are two schools of thoughts, easily labeled optimistic and pessimistic. I like the first - most at Penguin Towers would agree - we’re a sunny bunch. Penguin surely ought to be well prepared, we’re certainly well connected – our cousin apparently knows lots about this sort of thing. The optimism comes from the same logic as The London Paper used in arriving at the good news for Messrs Heinz and Branston. Books are broadly speaking cheaper than the alternatives, in this case the wider entertainment industry. Book prices to the consumer are fairly stable over the last few years – any upward inflationary pressure being neutered by the attractive customer offers particularly from supermarkets and online retailers. So we should be fine yes? Our entertainment offer is well priced compared to alternatives, people will go out less – books will keep selling. We should bury our heads in the sand (not a Penguin trait) and carry on.

Certainly this was true last time the UK was in recession, I’m assured by those with more Penguin years in the bag that we came through reasonably unscathed. But is it my imagination or are CD prices falling, cinema tickets getting cheaper if you have the right mobile phone and DVDs going from £20 to £5 within weeks of release into stores? Add to that the fact that many people have about 800 more TV channels to choose from than they did during the last recession and we might start worrying.

And we are. Books are getting more expensive to manufacture. The best way to bring down the cost of an individual book is to print a higher quantity, spreading set-up costs over a larger volume. But if people do actually buy less this will lead to a warehouse full of unsold books, never a good thing. We have a product which is heavy in bulk and - with rising oil prices - our transport and distribution costs are going to rise rapidly. Very generally speaking, we can print more cheaply in Asia than closer to home, especially when colour is involved, but the rising cost of bringing them all back here is reversing this. Our wonderful Penguin production team have gone a little pale but they keep coming up with brilliant ideas around paper and format – the more we stick to a few standard formats the better price we can obtain. There’s a new kind of creativity emerging – finding a way to keep our books looking and feeling as good as ever, but within a few new economic constraints

If we can’t keep our costs stable then we start thinking about other levers. And the biggest one is the cover price of the book, we certainly wouldn’t be the first or only industry to be putting prices up right now. Publishers everywhere must be feeling the same. We want our books everywhere, we want them to reach as many people as possible, but we need a profit as well. The trick is to be brave with prices but sensitive to market sectors. It’s easier to be brave when you have a premium product or brand than when you are competing for shelf space in a competitive area like women’s fiction where an extra £1 can mean a bookseller will choose to stock a similar substitute.

So we’re all thinking harder. Our editorial, marketing and design teams are still the creative hub. But there’s new creativity springing up all over the place in response to the challenge. Production have their thinking caps firmly on, the sales team are finding new ways to differentiate our offer and yes, even my colleagues and I in finance are bracing ourselves to plot a course for this old bird to get through any storm.

Mark the Bean Counter

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