News for Authors

Out of Print: Turning Books into Merchandise

by The Author Newsletter Team |July, 2017

Penguin Random House recently acquired Out of Print, the pioneering creator and retailer of licensed illustrated literary-themed products. Read on to learn more about the new addition to the PRH family and find out how to get 50 percent off your next Out of Print order.

With high-quality tees and an ever-growing variety of adult and children’s apparel, accessories, and home goods, Out of Print celebrates books and authors through their use of iconic book-cover art and original designs. By giving readers even more opportunities to display their identification with particular books or simply their love of reading, Out of Print taps into an interesting counter-trend to our increasingly digital world. Wearing what you love or turning home goods into sources of literary inspiration can carry even more meaning when you don’t see physical bookshelves as often as you did in the past.

The relationship between the founders of Out of Print—Jeff LeBlanc and Todd Lawton—and Penguin Random House dates back to the early days of the literary-minded merchandising company. We’ve worked together on rights and permissions for many years. More recently, the relationship has grown into a strategic partnership as Penguin Random House increasingly prioritizes finding additional paths to build and support our authors’ brand value.

When Penguin Books redesigned their Pelican Shakespeare series for the four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Out of Print took the cover designs by illustrator Manuja Waldia and created a full collection of T-shirts to sell in partnership with Penguin Random House. To celebrate New York City’s annual Shakespeare in the Park productions, Out of Print will release three more designs later this summer.

 

Out of Print sells its merchandise in more than a thousand bookstores and fashion, college, and gift retailers, as well as on its own popular online consumer destination: outofprintclothing.com. For every item sold, Out of Print contributes to fund literacy programs and book donations to communities in need. To date, Out of Print has helped to donate more than two million books.

As a special offer to celebrate the new alignment, Out of Print is happy to extend a discount on all of their items to all Penguin Random House authors. Use discount code WRITE50 by July 28 at 11:59 PT to get 50 percent off your next order on https://www.outofprintclothing.com/.