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December 14, 2007
I'm Gonna Live Forever, I'm Gonna Learn How to Fly!
Kids dancing outside classrooms. Uberstylish girls singing with perfect pitch on the stairs. A young couple rowing at the tops of their voices before stopping to ask ‘shall we take that from the top?’. And an almost unbearable urge on my part to pull on the leggings and leg warmers and start limbering up.
It can only mean one thing. Puffin entered the world of Fame at the Brit School, an institution who’s distinguished alumni include Leona Lewis, the Kooks, and a certain Ms. Winehouse (heard of her lately, anyone?). We travelled to Croydon, the UK’s latest hotbed of performing talent to cast the part of Sara in our version of Kate Modern – regularly updated dramatic 'vlogs' - based on Melvin Burgess’ latest novel Sara’s Face.
Melvin is rightly known as the Godfather of Teen Fiction, and he first soared to fame himself in 1997 on publication of the hugely controversial Junk. Since then, his books have never shied away from combining difficult issues with fantastic storytelling.
Sara’s Face (out in Penguin paperback at the end of Jan) focuses on celebrity, image, and cosmetic surgery. Lead character Sara is 17, gorgeous and desperate for fame. The story is told partly through transcripts of her vidlogs, and it’s these, along with some new and exclusive material from Melvin, that we’re going to be shooting and releasing as ‘webisodes’ on Penguin’s teen site Spinebreakers.co.uk early next year.
Coming over all Simon Cowell wasn’t necessary, as the actresses who turned up to the auditions were seriously talented. Still, they had a difficult task. The clips need to feel entirely natural and Sara, who’s beautiful, manipulative and damaged runs the gamut of emotions from ecstasy to horror. The director reckoned these girls’ abilities easily surpassed those of the groups he gets sent when he’s casting with big TV stations. Each girl brought her own interpretation to the role and any one of three particularly talented auditionees could land the part. It’s time to roll back the tapes and watch them back to find out who’ll be lucky.
As well as the videos, spinebreakers will be hosting a vlogging competition. Entrants can upload their own rants on the subject of beauty, and how far they’d go to get it onto the site from early next year to win state of the art video recording equipment.
The eight professionally shot and acted videos based on Sara’s Face will be broadcast on spinebreakers in January. Don’t forget to watch them. In fact, remember remember remember remember remember.
Jodie from Puffin |
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December 07, 2007
No telly, thanks, I'm reading
 What's a better part of Christmas than some hearty Christmas telly? Twinning your telly programmes up with their original literary forebears, of course. On the BBC, we've got quite a few on-screen/on-page twinnings, not least a Russell Brand bit of tomfoolery over in the States. Brand hitched over there a few months ago to retrace the steps of Kerouac himself in his On the Road journey, in an hour-long celebration of the book on its 50th anniversary. Expect lots of passage-reading and hopefully some humorous soul-searching as he scamps his way across the continent.
Elsewhere, you'll have the chance for a Dickens of a Christmas, with the BBC's glossy-yet-soot-smudged Oliver Twist, Blackadder's Christmas Carol, and not one but two versions of the actual Christmas Carol over on Channel 4 (the Reginald Owen one and the Patrick Stewart one - hurrah!) on Christmas Eve.
Lots of children's books making it to Christmas schedules, too - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (please can someone explain Book 13 to me?), The Cat in the Hat (no comment), and - my personal favourite - Ballet Shoes. Lovely.
Less lovely but slightly more likely to be watched by anyone who isn't a 12-year-old girl is The Great Escape. Although marvellously acted, directed, etc., I implore you not to watch this film. It will destroy you. Why everyone talks about Steve McQueen on the bike like it's a good thing, is, frankly, beyond me (spoiler). Although I have been told that the book is excellent, so maybe stick to that.
Some family viewing/reading for everyone to enjoy: a new Sense & Sensibility, some Pullman adventure for Belle de Jour in Shadow in the North, and an oldie(ish) but a goldie, The Count of Monte Cristo. Musically, GB Shaw will be showing us all a good time with BBC 2's My Fair Lady on Christmas Eve, and what better excuse is there to finally getting round to reading Peter Pan than avoiding Finding Neverland on New Year's Day? Just don't let the kids read it. They'll be scarred for life.
Sam the Copywriter |
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December 03, 2007
Introducing Penguin's own Bond Girl
 T
oday we unveiled the cover for the new James Bond novel, Devil May Care, which I hope you'll agree is rather striking.
We're publishing this new chapter in the life of Bond in May 2008 to celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth. Sebastian Faulks has written the new novel - and it's all set to be one of the most exciting moments in 'book world' next year… keep watching this space.
We knew that this book cover had to be stylish, sophisticated and iconic - all the things one associates with Fleming's world-famous spy. So our Art Directors decided to take a slightly different approach to this artwork and we took on award-winning design agency - The Partners - who have worked with leading British brands such as Jaguar, the BBC and the National Gallery. We wanted someone who would have a slightly different take on designing a book cover, one which would go beyond usual publishing preconceptions about what such things should look like.
The Partners presented us initial designs based around the concept a blood-red flower with the silhouette of a naked woman as its stem set against a jet black background. Everyone - the Estate of Ian Fleming, Sebastian Faulks and all those involved in-house - reacted really positively to the concept artwork… so the next stage was to find our Bond cover girl. Tough job.
We knew the moment we saw Tuuli that she was the one - she exuded the grace, style and beauty one associates with all the Bond girls. Most of all Tuuli was fantastically enthusiastic and engaged with the project - her vivacity really came through in the shoot. Then the Partners applied their skills in finessing and styling - and the end result was a fantastically iconic image.
Without a shadow of a doubt I think this has been one of the most rewarding covers we've produced - the moment you mention the name James Bond people's eyes light up. Everyone involved in designing the cover has leapt to the challenge with that glint in their eyes - and the artwork really reflects that enthusiasm and passion.
You can't judge a book by it's cover - but you sure as hell can make people want to pick that book up and read it…
Alex Clarke, Editor, Penguin 007 |
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Wonderful, wonderful, oh most wonderful... Cafe Penguin is no more, and we have finally returned home to the open arms of Penguin Towers, on the lovely, lovely Strand. Lots of pre-moving anxiety (constructive comments ranging from "People will pity how awful our desks are" to "There's no natural light! We'll become Morlocks!" have, of course, turned out to be utterly unfounded) became joy at returning to somewhere that actually had running water. No more shoes sticking to the pavement of Brick Lane on a Monday morning, no more lack of access to banks, post offices, key cutters, shoe menders, pharmacies, dry-cleaners and our Penguin canteen, no more cut cables, random fire alarms, extreme temperatures and the World's Most Awful Lifts... Instead, we are in the glittering new offices, hand-crafted by tiny literary robots to suit our every whim. We've only been here four hours (who doesn't enjoy a late start on a Monday morning?) and already our computers work, our phones dial out, and our files have somewhere to live. I feel a little bit like weeping for joy, so I might just ride up and down in our lifts for a little while to celebrate.
Sam the Copywriter |
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November 13, 2007
So last week Facebook announced new models of advertising, including allowing brands and products to create Facebook pages. In the past, one had to be a real person to create a facebook account, but now the spectre of monolithic corporate presence looms large over the booming social networking site.
 Penguin (never backward when coming forward) has today become, we believe*, the first publisher to take advantage of Facebook's largesse and we've created our own product page which you can find here. We're now busy adding pictures, videos and all sorts of other gubbins to the page to create what we hope will be an interesting, engaging and regularly updated destination for our new fans (brands and companies have fans, not friends, which makes sense really). Let us know what we could put on our page to make it more interesting, either by writing on our wall, or by getting in touch via the comments on this blog, though our myspace page, by IMing our second life avatar, on the podcast, through the website or, if you must, with terribly old fashioned phone, fax, email or snailmail. Phew.
When news of our facebook page rippled through the office reaction was mixed, ranging from total disinterest, (very) mild excitement to deep mistrust. The last response came from our most enthusiastic facebookers who feel that a company has no place muscling in on a social networking site. Facebook is a place where friends can hang with friends, tag each other in photos and catch up on news of bawdy nights out (rest assured, you will not see pictures of Penguin, passed out in a shopping trolley after one too many Moscow Mules). I was reminded from a passage from All Tomorrow's Parties where William Gibson disects the disappearance of geographic bohemias:
"Bohemias. Alternative subcultures. They were a crucial aspect of industrial civilization in the two previous centuries. They were where industrial civilization went to dream. A sort of unconscious R&D, exploring alternate societal strategies ... But they became extinct.”
“Extinct?”
“We started picking them before they could ripen. A certain crucial growing period was lost, as marketing evolved and the mechanisms of recommodification became quicker, more rapacious. Authentic subcultures required backwaters, and time, and there are no more backwaters. They went the way of geography in general..."
So, sorry if we are treading on your toes. We honestly won't get in your way and, after all, you don't have to be our friend, or our fan, or our follower or part of our gang. But, if you want to stay in touch, we hope to make it as easy as possible for you to find us, and connect with us, our authors and their books and other readers.
Jeremy Ettinghausen
Digital Publisher
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November 09, 2007
 They’ve made a film of Nancy Drew and I’m mildly indignant. Call me bookish (it’s in the job description) but I’m a bit cynical when it comes to books I love(d) being turned into great big motion pictures. Of course, I have exceptions to my own rule, The Shawshank Redemption, The Remains of the Day, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to name a few. But don’t get me started on Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. There’s a case in point.
  Nancy Drew is special to me because she was mystery and adventure when I was all of ten years old. Before starting at Puffin HQ, I clambered into my parents loft to hunt down and blow the dust off my hardback Matilda, The Sheep-Pig, The Chronicles of Narnia, The BFG, First Term at Malory Towers, Alice in Wonderland and yes (she says in a whisper) Forever. I was off to work in children’s books and I wanted a few of my beloveds with me. Tiny doodles and all (sacrilege I know), but I’d forgotten how much I truly did heart A.B. It was sweet to remember.
 My point? I do have one. The Child that Books Built is a memoir of childhood and reading by Francis Spufford, which I discovered whilst waist high in dissertation research five years ago. I just lovethe concept. I spent some time pondering the books that built me and to what extent they affect (effect? I never could) me now. I can’t begin to explain the happiness I experienced when, this September, The BFG with my blurb hit the bookshops. But that’s the privilege of doing what I do.
Books from childhood are part of you – spend a few moments recalling the books which delighted and fascinated you as a child and see if it doesn’t make you smile.
As for the ND film, I’ll watch it but I think my mind is made up. My Nancy Drew has titian hair and freckles. This young lady(charming though she no doubt is), has not.
Sarah Kettle, Puffin Copywriter |
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October 29, 2007
Sell What You Love
 I have been officially Missing in Action for the last few weeks, making sure all our key books are in the best possible positions in store for Christmas. It goes without saying that as sales in our business are so skewed to the last few weeks of the year, it takes about the same proportion of a sales persons' time and energy.
No doubt you may have already read about the marketing charges the chains charge us for those slots. However, with only a small percentage of our titles going into these coveted and much-competed for positions in the front of the store, what do we do with those titles which we love and certainly have their market, but don't have a storming TV series or a celeb's story of years welded to the crack pipe to promote them? These are the titles we like to call our "passion-sells." They are titles we hand-sell to the retailers, sometimes picking up the phone or sending early copies plus a letter from the author or editor to a head office buyer, store manager or an independent bookshop buyer. There is such a grassroots love of good books in this industry, that they, like us, look for titles which can give them a point of difference from the cacophony of big discounted Christmas titles.
A good example is Penguin's Poems for Life. This is the type of book I remember receiving as a gift when I was a young: a treasury of wonderful poetry, bringing together classics with contemporary poets, all organised along the seven ages of man from birth through childhood and love to death. We've had a fantastic response from our field sales reps, whose customers really enjoy a book which isn't dependent on anything else but it's own quality to recommend it, especially if it has appeal for all the family. It's the type of book which might get some nice reviews or mentions in gift recommendation round-ups, but what will really make someone buy it is discovering it in a bookshop. For me, that moment of discovery is one of the pleasures of shopping for books, and if we only shop to compare discounts then it's a pleasure lost. It's by making sure that somewhere in your local bookshop such treasures are waiting for you to discover, that we'll be manning the phones in the next few weeks.
Fiona Buckland, Penguin Press Sales Manager |
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October 29, 2007
Whilst all at Cafe Penguin hope that Dear Reader likes what we've put between the covers, it's all too easy to overlook what's right next to the covers. The often-decorative sheets glued to the hardback jacket are known as endpapers, and are quite an art in themselves. Many thanks to Drawgerfor the inspiration to trawl our own library.
  
  
These are: God's Architect; At Large And At Small; A Convergence of Birds; Young Voices; Travels with Herodotus; The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire; and Beatrix Potter.
Meanwhile, in a land far less beautiful but possibly more mind-bending, lolcats are THE gift for kids this Christmas. Mmmm, maybe not gifts then, but certainly an ideal way to while away the time between sending round summer holiday pics and planning one's departmental Christmas party. And now the phenomenon has gone Biblical! Some classic opening lines for you, Penguin and otherwise, courtesy of a cabin-fevered assistant of mine with time on her hands:
it wuz teh best ov tiems, it wuz teh wurst ov tiems
it be truth universally aknowlegd dat single man in pozeshun ov gud fortune must be in wants ov wife
last nites i dreemed i wnet 2 manderly again
callz me ishmael
it wuz pleshure 2 burn
Alice wuz beginnin 2 git vry tird ov sittin by her sistr on teh bank, and ov havin nuffin 2 do...
it wuz luv at furst site. teh furst tiem Yosarian saw teh chaplain he fell madly in luv wif him
it wuz brite cold dai in april an teh clockz wuz strikin firteen
too howzholds bof alik in dignitee in fare veroner wair we lay our seen
mommy dide todai. or mebby yesturdai, ize not sure
Any requests for the senior commissioning editors to print the full books? Something pleasant from my desk for anyone who can name all the originals.
Sam the Copywriter
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October 18, 2007
Let's hear it for a bit of old-fashioned craft
So I was washing the dishes a while back and the radio was on – no wait, let me provide some context.
My boss sent me to Applied Green two weeks ago. What? You know, green things (they're the new black if you're the kind of person always in search of the next black) done practically. Basically, this was a conference where a bunch of business doers and thinkers – David Hieatt from Howies, Marc Sands from the Guardian, Eugenie Harvey, conference stalwart Russell Davies and others – told delegates that thinking green as a business wasn't good enough any longer. We drones in firms need to act green and – this is the bad news – do it yesterday.
I won't preach at you or bore you with stats (something the Applied Green speakers avoided), but I will say that the conference was scary. Scary terrifying. You see the climate change debate is over. Green is not just about global warming or damage to the planet. It's about sustainability. About what we're going to leave behind for future generations. Take cod. In the North Sea overfishing has caused a perilous decline in stocks to the point where many scientists say it will never recover. No more cod in the North Sea. Yet the fishermen resent, complain about and get around the few restrictions which ensure there are some stocks left for them to fish in years to come. Madness? Then what about the rest of us. Throughout the 20th century we've been treating the world like we treat our cod (I don't mean covering it in batter and lobbing it in the deep fat fryer - mmm ... planet and chips) – I mean plundering it in expectation that it will forever renew itself as if it was some magical porridge pot. Everyone from me and you to global publishing houses are soon going to have to act in a way that does not have a deleterious effect on tomorrow. (Okay, I lied about the not preaching, but really once you look into this stuff you'd have to be some kind of nincompoop petrolhead not to get evangelical.)
Applied Green got me wondering whether better craft might just mean fewer but better books. (The book industry continues to churn out year on year more new books than ever before.) Which means the old book trade mantra of pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap isn't going to cut it in a green future. Publishers are now printing books on FSC accredited paper i.e. the trees cut down are from well-managed forests. But it would be preferable not to be carting around the world so many bits of dead wood. Among the various madnesses that possessed the human race in the 20th century, our rampant consumerism is perhaps the one that future generations will look back on with most perplexity. Why did they need so much low-quality stuff? Why didn't they demand less stuff that was simply better-made and longer-lasting?
Aren't the best books the ones that we re-read or lend to our friends?
Colin Brush, Senior Copywriter
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October 11, 2007
Frankfurt's Top Model
Follow the adventures of Penguin operatives over the next few days as they pit their wits against the might of the international publishing and agenting community at the 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair. Day Three and Agent X thinks he is judging America's Top Model...
Frankfurt is a little like the Eurovision Song Contest – publishers dress according to their national fashion, with often disastrous effect. The German men wear shocking lime green blazers, the Dutch leather caps which I last saw in San Francisco in the Castro district back in 1985, the Russians all look like gangsters with loads of bling jewellery, and the Eastern Europeans have trousers which are always two inches too short. In an industry which is so dependent on packaging, I always find it surprising how little interest publishers show in what they wear. A colleague of mine who won't hire editors who are fashion challenged because she thinks they won't be able to commission good covers, would be appalled walking around the fair. That said, I was admiring the suit of an English publisher last night and he said to me, 'oh my tailor in China made it for me'. He wasn't joking - that's the coolest thing I've heard all week.
Our Man at the Bookfair
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October 10, 2007
The Kids are Alright
Last night saw the launch of Spinebreakers, Penguin's brand new community site for teenagers. In internal meetings, at publishing industry conferences and on this blog we've long wrung our hands over the young readers we lose to video games, youtube and myspace and finally some of the folks here have tried to do something about it.
Over the last 9 months a hardworking team from Penguin and an equally hardworking panel of teenagers have been discussing, shaping and finetuning the Spinebreakers site. From the look and feel, to the colours, to the content itself, the teen panel have been involved in every stage of what was sometimes an ardous process. Authors have been interviewed (by teenagers), vodcasts and podcasts recorded and uploaded (by teenagers), alternative endings written and alternative covers drawn (by, yes you guessed it, teenagers).
As you can probably tell, Spinebreakers will be a hugely interactive site - teenagers everywhere are encouraged to send in audio, video, writing, alternative covers and basically just get involved. We know that internet users, and teenagers in particular, are not content to be passive consumers of content, they want to get on with it and actively create stuff and Spinebreakers will be a place where book related content in all formats will be welcomed, displayed and shared. If you are a creative teenager interested in books, or know one, get stuck in and pass on the link.
I think it is a hugely exciting project and I can't wait to see how it evolves. Congratulations to the Spinebreakers Crew and everyone involved in this.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher |
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October 10, 2007
Bigger is Better?
Follow the adventures of Penguin operatives over the next few days as they pit their wits against the might of the international publishing and agenting community at the 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair. Day Two and Agent X is pretty pleased with the Penguin stand...
I never feel happier to work for a massive conglomerate like Penguin than when I walk into Hall 8 of the Frankfurt book fair each year. I walk past the tiny booth of some tiddly independent in aisle Z (the Siberia of Frankfurt) and head off to row G right bang in the middle of the hall, and I come across the mighty edifice of the Penguin stand, a feat of engineering which would impress even our very own Jeremy Clarkson. I feel like a medieval peasant in France seeing Chartres cathedral for the first time. The Penguin stand is buzzing with energy. According to the media, editors and publishers only want to work for independents, and everybody who works for conglomerates are corporate drones. What utter bollocks! I love working for a sophisticated, global, super-professional company like Penguin and our Frankfurt stand is the supreme symbol of that.
Our Man at the Bookfair
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October 01, 2007
The Penguin English Dictionary Blog of Revelations: Are you malcoordinated or uncoordinated?
It all started a few months back. There I was, plodding along with all things reference, when I overheard my colleagues, Alice and Phillip, calling each other ‘malco’. The word was not familiar to me but as I’m not a native Brit I put it down to an ignorance of British colloquialisms. Where I come from, people call each other ‘unco’. For example, today I dropped my pen, bent down to pick it up, missed, bent down again, picked it up, dropped it again, bent down to pick it up, and tripped over own hand. Unco.
Although I’d heard malco before, it resonated more aggressively this time – possibly because it was being uttered by these aforementioned extremely-bright-and-well-educated-in-every-other-way colleagues. I was working on the dictionary at the time and thus acutely aware of the need for supreme accuracy when it comes to English. I decided to challenge them, explaining that malcoordinated is not a word. I even held open the Penguin English Dictionary to the page where it would appear if it really was a word. There began a raging debate and several other colleagues entered the arena to claim malcoordinated was a word and not only was I mad for disagreeing but that ‘unco’ sounds completely ridiculous. The only way to settle it was to ask Robert Allen, so here follows a short transcript of that correspondence:
Dear Robert,
I'm currently in the midst of a highly charged debate with some colleagues regarding the word 'malcoordinated'. Please could you confirm if this is a word or not? And whether using 'uncoordinated' is more or less correct?
Kristen
ps. I note that the spell checker queries malcoordinated when I try to send, and offers no alternatives. Looking forward to your reply - I should have put money on this.
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Dear Kristen
Well, it’s some time since I’ve been asked to resolve an office dispute like this. It’s not without its dangers you know. As you don’t say which way round the debate stands I can be completely impartial.
There is no such word as malcoordinated recorded in the OED (online).
I have found one slightly weird example (from a religious magazine, apparently) of its use on the Oxford corpus (500 million words), which goes like this:
“A Christmas baby, with fingernails and everything! Mal-coordinated childish digits needing practice. In Him all things hold together, but a baby has to be taught to hold! How did they stretch skin around the Invisible God? Was it like cling-film?”
No example on the British National Corpus (100 million).
So I think the answer is no, but as with all language there is scope for invention, and mal- is a productive prefix. It would be useful to distinguish the sense ‘badly coordinated’ (which I imagine is the meaning intended) from ‘not coordinated [at all]’. In general though, uncoordinated is much the better word.
I hope this helps! No fighting now.
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Even this response from Robert didn’t stop Alice and Phillip from bandying around their tirade of ignorance. Here’s how Phillip responded:
See 'malcoordinated atoms' in abstract copyrighted by the American Physical Society.
'malcoordinated peristaltic activity'
'malcoordinated atoms' in the Brazilian Journal of Physics
and that great arbiter of lexical correctness - The York University Boat Club (see second blog down entitled 'Slutfest 2005/6 woo!')
As you can see - used widely by both academics and boaties!
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A small and random selection of online citations is not enough to justify a word being added the Penguin English Dictionary. Having said that, Robert makes the point that there is always room for invention. What do we think? Should malcoordinated be in the dictionary? If there’s enough support perhaps Robert will kindly add it to the next edition. But that still won’t make me wrong.
Kristen Harrison, Reference Editor
ps. "stretch skin around the Invisible God? Was it like cling-film?" – now that is inventive use of language.
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September 28, 2007
Expressivity
So, to the Reader/Writer Mash-up, held conveniently on the 10th floor of Penguin towers and attended by a motley collection of educators, librarians, metaverse evangelists, poets, game designers and the odd publisher.
The point of the evening, Miranda McKearney from meeting organisers The Reading Agency, told us was to look at the changing nature of reading and writing in a digital age; "The advent of new media is changing the way we all read, and this is especially true of young people."
Then Rose, hilariously described in the programme as 'Young Person' confirmed this by saying that her and her friends all love reading, but all chose different ways to get content. For her it is olde-worlde print and paper books, but many of her friends access manga online, and presumably soon will be doing the same on their mobile phones.
I guess that what I took away from the evening (apart from Rose's brilliantly and spontaneously invented word that I've used as the title of this post) was that as publishers we often preach to the converted, those who already love books and love reading, people like you! We try very hard to sell more books to the same group of readers, rather than trying to deal with the fact that a generation is growing up who want to create content as well as consume it.
My other thought, it is time to retire the word mash-up to refer to the practice of cutting, pasting and remixing words, film, music and any other type of content imaginable. In this digital world of cut and paste, drag and drop, ctrl-c and ctrl-v, mashing up is simply stuff we make and stuff we do.
To sort of illustrate the themes of the evening here's a video which brilliantly encapsulates everything that was discussed and raises several other issues. Expressivity indeed.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher
update - thanks to those who pointed out by horrible misquotation of Rose's new word - my shorthand isn't what it used to be. |
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