Turning a new page: the rise of #Merky Books

Malorie Blackman sold her life story to them, other hot authors are lining up. What makes Stormzy’s imprint so different?In a glass-walled meeting room on the fifth floor of Penguin Random House headquarters in Pimlico, Theophina Gabriel is talking about her love of reading while laughing at her trigger-happy printing: “The last thing that came in I found so magical, it was 329 pages and I printed it all… Don’t worry I checked if I was allowed to first!” She’s part of a team that makes up one of the year’s most exciting literary imprints, #Merky Books. Today, the team is gathered around, drinking coffee and chatting about their pop-up event in east London the week before, which invited a community of young writers to dance and seek writing advice from the likes of playwright Inua Ellams and musician Wretch 32.The team are all characters worth reading about themselves. Twenty-two-year-old editorial assistant Gabriel, who routinely dresses all in purple (today she has a crop of lilac hair, violet glasses and a purple jumper), currently on an internship programme, was the first in her British Grenadan family to go to university, and publishes a radical zine, Onyx, which celebrates black creatives. Emma Wallace, 30, the senior audience and brand manager, is British Sri Lankan and English, and previously worked at start-ups and the BBC doing social media. The softly spoken founder and editorial director Tom Avery, 36, brings 13 years of publishing experience. And there’s... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-12-16 08:00:15 UTC ]
News tagged with: #brand manager #previously worked ##merky books #penguin random house

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Turning a new page: the rise of #Merky Books'


Facebook 'Idiot's Guide' Inadvertently Makes Case for E-Books

Writing a how-to book in a static medium like paper about something as dynamic as Facebook is challenging at best and at worst...well...idiocy. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Rooney strikes back with new HC book

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 08:20 HarperCollins is publishing a new book by Wayne Rooney, having dismissed suggestions that it was on the brink of renegotiating the lucrative contract it has with the Manchester United and England striker. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lucrative contract #manchester united


Guardian First Book shortlist heads Down the Rabbit Hole

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 08:12 Stephen Kelman's Pigeon English (Bloomsbury) has made the shortlist of the £10,000 Guardian First Book Award, equaling its achievement on the Man Booker Prize this year, with Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #guardian readers #rabbit hole #book award


Teeside village turns to tax increase to save library

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 15:15 The Teeside village of Great Ayton is proposing a tax increase in the parish precept in order to save its library, threatened by North Yorkshire county council (NYCC) funding cuts. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #save library


Ribblestrop scoops Guardian Children's Book Award

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 11/11/2011 - 07:30 Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Schuster Children's Books) has been awarded the Guardian Children's Book Award, beating off shortlisted titles including David Almond's My Name is Mina and Simon Mason's Moon... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book award #guardian children #simon mason


Random House of Canada Tests New Book Tour Model

Random House of Canada is experimenting with a different kind of book tour this fall--one that guarantees book sales from every person attending a launch. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #random house #book tour


Bodley Head buys book from Blair's ex-chief of staff

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 10/11/2011 - 15:52 Tony Blair's former chief of staff is writing a book for The Bodley Head about the intricacies of negotiations between governments and terrorist organisations. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bodley head #terrorist organisations


Haynes tops Amazon's best books of 2011

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 08:12 Amazon.co.uk has chosen Elizabeth Haynes' debut Into the Darkest Corner (Myriad Editions) as its best book of 2011, as part of a top 50 selection made "after thoughtful consideration and lengthy debate", and taking into... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #uk customers #darker side #domestic violence #huge hit #editors alike


Australian book industry moves to ease import restrictions

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 09:15 Australia’s publishers have moved to compromise in the battle to protect their industry from parallel importing. According to a report from Inside Retail, the Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG) has made a recommendation to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Japan's Rakuten to Acquire E-book Retailer Kobo

Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten said on Tuesday that it plans to acquire Canadian ebook and e-reader company Kobo in a bid to expand in the area of media... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Startups Aim to Share Books Better

The idea of "social reading" has been around for years, but there's a cluster of new companies trying to make it actually work. Two of these startups, Subtext and Findings, launched Oct. 25. Another, Readmill, built around sharing clips/excerpts, is currently being tested. Subtext, for example,... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #share books #social reading #lets publishers #launch titles #reading experience


‘The Great Big Book of Horrible Things,’ by Matthew White

Matthew White, a self-described “atrocitologist,” at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #horrible things #lower manhattan


Chopra book to Amazon in "game-changing" deal

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 08:45 Amazon has acquired a memoir by bestselling author Dr Deepak Chopra and his brother Dr Sanjiv Chopra. Amazon's Larry Kirshbaum and David Oldawer at Amazon's New York publishing imprint bought world English rights for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #larry kirshbaum #robert gottlieb


Flynn leaves Icon to turn teacher

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 12:32 Icon Books m.d. Simon Flynn will leave the publisher at the end of the year, with non-executive director Philip Cotterell taking his place. Flynn, who has worked at Icon for nearly 15 years, has decided on a career change and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


World Book Day plans reinvigoration for 2012 event

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 15:27 World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions. WBD will return on 1st March 2012—led by children’s marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #children excited


Books24x7: Professional Books Go Digital

Given ebooks’ recent growth in the trade, professional books are clearly ahead of the digital curve. Books24x7 was one of the earliest companies in the professional ebook space, licensing and repackaging ebooks for IT professionals on a subscription basis for nearly two decades. A subsidiary of... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #professional books #subscription basis #staying connected


World Book Day to revamp for 2012

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 09:15 World Book Day is set for a 2012 revamp, with new management, branding and digital promotional ideas hoping to achieve more than one million book token redemptions. WBD will return on 1st March 2012—led by children’s marketing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #children excited


Amazon Prime Book Lending: Your FAQs Answered

Users can start borrowing books from Amazon right now, so here's what you need to know about using the service with your Kindle device. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kindle device


Physical book sales slump £12m in October

Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Thu, 03/11/2011 - 09:57 Printed book sales in October slumped 8% year-on-year, due largely to poor sales within the paperback fiction and biographies/memoirs sectors, Nielsen BookScan data has revealed. In total, £144.7m was spent on physical books in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #29th october #due largely #poor sales #paperback fiction #physical books


Amazon sweetens Prime with Kindle book lending

Is Amazon Prime the best deal in tech? It just may be: Amazon now offers the capability for customers to loan out over 5,000 books for their Kindle or Kindle Fire devices. The Kindle Owners' Lending Library will allow for one book per month to be lent out, and there are no due dates. To borrow a... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lending library #amazon prime #kindle owners