For the first time, Penguin books will be included in the two-day shipping program that Random House began in 2011. The holiday initiative is for independent booksellers, and allows them to order titles that are guaranteed to ship and arrive within two days.
Last year the expedited delivery program covered bookseller orders on frontlist and backlist titles from the Crown Publishing Group, Random House, Knopf Doubleday, Random House Children’s Books, Penguin Random House Audio and PRH's publisher services clients. This year's program, which begins this week and runs through January 31, will include all adult and children's titles--both frontlist and backlist--published by Penguin.
Through this year's program, bookseller orders received in the PRH system by 3 pm EST are guaranteed to ship the following business day and arrive, barring inclement weather, at the bookstore no more than two days later. Weekend shifts have been added to the two PRH distribution centers handling the holiday orders, in Maryland and Indiana.
Jaci Updike, president of PRH sales, said the program is part of a continued effort on behalf of the publisher to get titles to booksellers quickly and efficiently. "We believe faster replenishment will continue to be an enormous help to our customers’ sell-through in November and December, as our in-demand titles will not only be in stock, but also can be highly visible to consumers through in-store display.”
NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that last year the holiday shipping program also included titles from Penguin Random House Publisher Services clients.
