Penguin Promo Pushes Diversity

Jim Milliot |

Oct 09, 2000

News
Penguin Promo Pushes Diversity Jim Milliot -- 10/9/00 Penguin Books, home to one of the most distinguished backlists in publishing, is launching a new promotional campaign to raise the awareness of both the industry and consumers that Penguin not only publishes classic titles, but contemporary, salable books as well. The new advertising campaign will feature the tag line "'Penguin Classic, Classic Penguin"' and will appear on trade paperback ads, catalogues, posters and promotional materials. A bookseller newsletter to be launched by the end of the month will also bear the Penguin Classic, Classic Penguin name. Kathryn Court, who was promoted to president and publisher of the trade paperback house in August (News, Sept. 4), said the goal of the campaign is to stress the broad range of fiction and nonfiction areas in which Penguin now publishes, and that in addition to publishing serious literature, the division publishes titles for a wide audience. "'At first our list was seen as coming from London, and then it was viewed as a line for college students that had little for the trade. But now we have a big trade presence and we want people to know that,"' Court said. Among the new titles that Court hopes may become future classics are such books as Longitude by Dava Sobel, A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank and Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. The broadening of its list d sn't mean Penguin is lowering its standards, Court insisted, but she believes there is a strong market for well-written quality fiction and nonfiction. "'Publishers shouldn't underestimate what people want to read,"' Court told PW. The proof that people will buy quality books is in Penguin's own sales figures; 70% of its annual sales are generated by its backlist and 30% from the frontlist. The backlist runs 2,885 titles deep and includes 1,114 Penguin Classics titles. Penguin's all-time bestsellers are led by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. Penguin publishes about 250 titles per year, with the majority of its list coming from other imprints within Penguin Putnam (mainly Viking). The list also features about 40 trade paperback originals, 22 American classics and 30 to 35 books acquired from other houses. While Penguin is expanding its reach in contemporary literature, it is also looking to broaden its base in the classics. According to Court, Penguin Classics' line has been Eurocentric, but under the direction of executive editor Michael Millman, Penguin Classics is adding more African-American, Far East, Latin America and South American titles. Translations remain an important part of the classics line, and Penguin is doing more bilingual editions, Millman said. And to help promote some of its classic titles, Penguin is linking new Viking books with a classic edition, such as Viking's In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick and Penguin Classics' The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale by Thomas Nickerson, Owen Chase and Others.

News

Penguin Promo Pushes Diversity
Jim Milliot -- 10/9/00

Penguin Books, home to one of the most distinguished backlists in publishing, is launching a new promotional campaign to raise the awareness of both the industry and consumers that Penguin not only publishes classic titles, but contemporary, salable books as well. The new advertising campaign will feature the tag line "'Penguin Classic, Classic Penguin"' and will appear on trade paperback ads, catalogues, posters and promotional materials. A bookseller newsletter to be launched by the end of the month will also bear the Penguin Classic, Classic Penguin name.

Kathryn Court, who was promoted to president and publisher of the trade paperback house in August (News, Sept. 4), said the goal of the campaign is to stress the broad range of fiction and nonfiction areas in which Penguin now publishes, and that in addition to publishing serious literature, the division publishes titles for a wide audience. "'At first our list was seen as coming from London, and then it was viewed as a line for college students that had little for the trade. But now we have a big trade presence and we want people to know that,"' Court said.

Among the new titles that Court hopes may become future classics are such books as Longitude by Dava Sobel, A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank and Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. The broadening of its list d sn't mean Penguin is lowering its standards, Court insisted, but she believes there is a strong market for well-written quality fiction and nonfiction. "'Publishers shouldn't underestimate what people want to read,"' Court told PW.

The proof that people will buy quality books is in Penguin's own sales figures; 70% of its annual sales are generated by its backlist and 30% from the frontlist. The backlist runs 2,885 titles deep and includes 1,114 Penguin Classics titles. Penguin's all-time bestsellers are led by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. Penguin publishes about 250 titles per year, with the majority of its list coming from other imprints within Penguin Putnam (mainly Viking). The list also features about 40 trade paperback originals, 22 American classics and 30 to 35 books acquired from other houses.

While Penguin is expanding its reach in contemporary literature, it is also looking to broaden its base in the classics. According to Court, Penguin Classics' line has been Eurocentric, but under the direction of executive editor Michael Millman, Penguin Classics is adding more African-American, Far East, Latin America and South American titles. Translations remain an important part of the classics line, and Penguin is doing more bilingual editions, Millman said. And to help promote some of its classic titles, Penguin is linking new Viking books with a classic edition, such as Viking's In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick and Penguin Classics' The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale by Thomas Nickerson, Owen Chase and Others.

A version of this article appeared in the 10/09/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: