My father, John Hitchin, who has died aged 88, was a marketing and publicity specialist in the publishing industry who spent three decades with Penguin Books, where he was responsible for a number of innovations, including the first paperback gift set and the first display “dump” bin. As Penguin’s development director in the early 1970s he also launched the Puffin school book club and persuaded Sainsbury’s to start selling books.John initially trained in retail at Harrods, becoming the haberdashery department manager there before joining Penguin in 1959. He started in Penguin’s publicity department, becoming the company’s first European representative (under Allen Lane), and then publicity manager in 1962, after which he was its first educational marketing manager, in which role he launched the Penguin Education division. It was after he became development director in 1973 that John launched the Puffin school book club. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-10-28 19:33:32 UTC ]
ITV daytime chat show Loose Women is today (March 24th) launching a new book club, with Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train (Doubleday) picked as the first title. The book club, called Loose Books, will see a different Loose Women panellist pick a book to read each month, which will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The real-time lyrics feature that Spotify added to its desktop app this past week hasn’t impressed the U.S. karaoke industry. Joseph C Vangieri, the CEO of DigiTrax, has called it “unfair competition for us American ‘Karaoke’ companies.”Lest you think that he has a beef with Spotify, know that... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From Homer to Balzac to Darwin to Dickens, these Penguin 80th birthday booklets are where publishing meets public serviceIt was quite overwhelming, to open the box containing all 80 of these booklets – one for each year in the life of Penguin Books. Each is around 60 pages long; each is an... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For his next reading challenge pick, Zuckerberg announced a much-lauded pro-vaccination book.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come out swinging in support of vaccination—and he wants his book club members to read all about it. Undaunted by the lukewarm reception to his first few picks,... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jon Stewart announced plans Tuesday night to leave his perch on The Daily Show later this year. The shrieks and cries you heard coming from Manhattan and Brooklyn? That was the sound of publishing and media insiders realizing that their best avenue for jump-starting book sales and making... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2015-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cynthia Bond's novel "Ruby" is set in Texas and tells a fierce and poetic tale of a worldly, beautiful black woman, Ruby Bell, and her struggle not to be destroyed by her home community of Liberty Township. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Denis Wilson Yes, data has become a buzzword and anyone with a little extra hot air will be eager to tell you it's the cure to what ails your business. The collection of articles in this issue of Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2015-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Drawing on her panoramic reading and her experiences of the authorly life cycle, Atwood surveys her trade with a mix of seriousness and gentle fun“You may find the subject a little peculiar,” warns Margaret Atwood, before she discusses the writer’s relationship with mortality. “It is a little... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The novelist Robert Harris was right to call the BBC’s lack of a books show a ‘disgrace’. There’s plenty the corporation could do to make a popular literary programme on TVWith injury, there is always a little insult. When a BBC spokesperson, responding to Robert Harris’s complaints at the Costa... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Faith-based films panel at Sundance; awards and honors; peaceful new book club; NIV celebrates 50 years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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James Patterson, already among the world's best-selling authors, plans to shake up the publishing industry with the launch of his new novel, Private Vegas, which will self-destruct within 24 hours. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2015-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writers believe that the publishing industry still views them largely through a prism of ethnicity, but industry insiders say that there is no pigeonholing based on race. Authors told The Bookseller they are still defined by their racial identity for marketing purposes and receive more success... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Single-app products will struggle to survive in children’s publishing in 2015 and the industry should shift its focus to online communities and cross-platform content, digital experts in the trade have warned. Sara O’Connor, digital fiction director at Hot Key Books, said many apps will “die... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Since word first broke right after New Year’s day that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg started a book club, Perseus Books Group has sold about 10,000 copies of the ebook edition of 'The End of Power' and more than 3,000 trade paperback copies. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Show how much you know! Here's our quiz for January 9, 2015.What the heck happened this week? Research says that one of the best ways to solidify new information is to be tested on it. Here's a chance to bolster your knowledge of current events—and earn a special emoji badge. Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2015-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has set up a book club on the social networking site, attracting more than 120,000 likes in three days. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Facebook founder, who has over 30 million followers, has launched a new book club as part of a challenge to himself, for 2015, to read a new book every two weeks. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s a long way from inception to completion, unless you’re artist and programmer Cory Arcangel, and your book is made up of other people’s tweets about writing a bookThe Inception Button should be used sparingly but when called for, it can be highly effective. Located at inception.davepedu.com,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google removed its news aggregation service from Spain a few days ago, but the Spanish Newspaper Publishers’ Association (AEDE) is already asking the government to bring it back. AEDE claims the removal of Google News will be bad business for the publishing industry overall and will have more of... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Robert M. Sacks Do you ever wonder if the publishing industry has learned enough in the last five years to be more effective and more profitable in the next five years? Of course, effective is a relative term... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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