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 ]
The Society of Authors has said that a “publishing industry which does not reflect society fails writers, readers and itself”. Nicola Solomon, the organisation’s chief executive, and HarperCollins’ director of people John Athanasiou have backed a new report calling for improved diversity across... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new publishing model has launched, offering authors a 50% share of revenue on book sales. Lightning Books, the fiction imprint of the newly created Eyestorm Media, operates a co-publishing model. It was founded by Eye Books owner Dan Hiscocks, a former director of the Independent Publishers’... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The last 10 days have been an especially busy period for all parts of the publishing industry, with major events taking place in London, Minneapolis, and Austin. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thomson, a founding editor of the London-based online daily newsletter and website about the publishing industry, will leave her post after the London Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Through countless discussions, experiments, challenges, and conferences, the digital transition has been front and center in the publishing industry for over a decade now. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Ron Matejko A fter speaking to numerous professionals within various segments of the publishing industry, there's a clear consensus about the key trend for digital magazines in 2015 and it can be summed up in... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2015-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books are a serious business, but the publishing industry had a little fun on April 1 to commemorate April Fools' Day. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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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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