Penguin Books

Sales, Earnings Fell by Double-Digits at PRH
September 1, 2016 at 12:27 pm

Sales and earnings at Penguin Random House both fell by more than 10% in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. PRH parent company Bertelsmann reported that revenue at the trade publisher fell 10.7% in the first six months of 2016, to 1.52 billion euros, while EBITDA (earnings before taxes,…

International Industry Notes: World’s Largest Publishers
August 29, 2016 at 12:32 pm

In his discussion of Publishers Weekly’s determination of the world’s largest publishers in 2015, Jim Milliot’s “hammer headline” is a good one: “Digital disruptions, soft economies challenge even the globe’s biggest players. As he writes, “Pearson maintained its place as the world’s largest book publisher in 2015, but that doesn’t mean the U.K.-based company didn’t face…

PRH Canada Opens Toronto Bookstore
August 25, 2016 at 1:03 pm

On Wednesday, Penguin Random House Canada has opened a new "Penguin Shop" bookstore on the first floor of the tower that houses the company’s offices in Toronto. The building, at 320 Front Street West, is close to both the Rogers Center sports arena and the iconic CN Tower. The 158-square-foot-store, which previously housed a shoe…

What Do the Financial Reports from the Big Five Book Publishers Tell Us?
August 3, 2016 at 1:10 pm

This post examines the latest quarterly financial reports from the big 5 book publishers and tries to draw some conclusions from the data. The big 5 are, of course, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. These companies are often seen as emblematic of the state of traditional trade book publishing in the…

The Bestseller Code: The Words that Make a Successful Book
July 8, 2016 at 2:28 pm

Good news for budding authors needing a little hand in writing that best-selling book: there’s now a formula for writing successful novels. Well, it won’t help you write the whole book, but it may help you get on the right track. Former acquisitions editor for Penguin UK, Jodie Archer, and associate professor of English at the…

Press Release: Penguin Random House UK Staff to Design the Workplace of the Future
July 1, 2016 at 1:07 pm

LONDON — June 28, 2016 — Penguin Random House UK today set employees the challenge of creating the workplace of the future. Tom Weldon, CEO Penguin Random House UK, launched a major project to capture opinions and ideas from employees and the results will inform a substantial reinvention of the publisher's London-based sites and working…

Press Release: Fodor’s Travel to Be Acquired by Internet Brands from Penguin Random House
June 22, 2016 at 2:29 pm

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK — June 21, 2016 — Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade-book publisher, has reached an agreement to sell Fodor’s, the preeminent travel-content brand, to Internet Brands, a leading Los Angeles-based online media and technology company, whose well-known travel websites such as FlyerTalk.com and Wikitravel.org attract 30 million monthly visitors.…

‘Experiences and Story’: PRH’s Dan Franklin on ‘Strata’ of Innovation
May 27, 2016 at 2:10 pm

Welcome to Strata, a new digital storytelling project by the versatile comics illustrator and designer Tommy Lee Edwards and the synth act I Speak Machine, produced by independent label Lex Records in partnership with Penguin Random House (PRH) UK and Google’s Editions At Play, on the homepage of which, the link to Strata calls it, “The book…

Penguin to Close Book on Dorling Kindersley
April 20, 2016 at 2:27 pm

Dorling Kindersley, the imprint behind long-running book series about Star Wars and James Bond, is being groomed for a sale by its owner, Penguin Random House. It publishes series both for children, with books from brands such as Lego, and adults, with the cookery writer Mary Berry among its catalogue of prominent authors. Sources said…

Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner Launch Imprint at Random House
April 6, 2016 at 1:20 pm

After the widespread success of their feminist email newsletter, Lenny Letter, Girls partners Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner are launching their own Lenny imprint at Random House (which published Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl in 2014), BuzzFeed first reported Wednesday. Lenny will publish both fiction and nonfiction by writers with strong voices, with Dunham…