News for Authors

Last month Penguin Random House launched Subway Reads, a special eight-week joint promotion in partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Transit Wireless, providing subway commuters with access to five free Penguin Random House e-shorts, as well as extensive samples from more than 175 of our full-length books, to enjoy underground.  Announced on August 28 by New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, the promotion celebrates the installation of free wireless connectivity in more than 175 underground stations throughout New York City. Read more

Nearly all books are still made of ink on paper, whether printed on a conventional offset press or the more recent digital presses. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein: a book is still a book is still a book. But for each title we publish, the process of getting the book to press differs greatly. Read on to learn more about the interior design and print production processes at Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Read more

People love to talk about the death of the publishing industry, but as we’ve shown time and time again, the truth is another matter. The AAP recently released its industry-wide annual report of 2015 data, and here are some key takeaways. Read more

Litsy is a new social network that is generating buzz among readers. The platform is best described as a cross between Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads, because of its highly visual, short-form, and book-centric nature. Litsy made its debut this spring as an iOS app. (Android and Web versions are currently in development.) Continue reading for an overview of Litsy, and learn how to effectively use it to connect with readers. Read more

In all areas of production, a great deal of time and thought is put into how to attract readers and turn them into lifelong fans of your work. But authors rarely get to see this process. For this article, we interviewed Helen Yentus, art director at Riverhead, and asked her to guide us through the multifaceted world of cover design. Read more

While titles, covers, and marketing copy are all important ways to attract a reader to your book, the first page of the book itself has an equally critical role: it offers readers a glimpse of your writing style and the story that follows. Read more

Facebook Live is an exciting new way to connect with readers on the platform using live video. This month’s marketing tip shares everything you need to know about this new feature, and how you can use it to effectively promote your book and your brand. Read more

We, too, are writing our story at Penguin Random House: telling the world who we are, what we do, and why we do it. Equally important is how. We invite you to explore the shared sense of purpose across our organization in this new video. Read more

Behind the scenes, your Penguin Random House teams are hard at work crafting copy that will draw readers in with a few sentences while still getting across your book’s essence. From web copy to flap copy, this relatively veiled field of publishing has evolved for all genres over the last decade. Read more