Too Many Books
By Publicity Manager, Ruth Warburton

One of the best things about working in publishing is also one of the worst things. Free books.

It’s pretty incredible to me, still, that I work in a place surrounded by so many books and that I am allowed to, you know, just read them. Books don’t grow on trees you know! Except once upon a time they did. And here they still do - metaphorically. You can just reach out and… pluck! A bitter-sweet Lisa Moore. A plump, ripe Nigella Lawson. A crisp and chilly Karin Fossum. A vintage Peter Ackroyd (an excellent year, 2010.)

Just now, coming up to the autumn bumper crop, the shelves are groaning. And like a landlord who goes into the trade because he loves the taste of beer, then finds that the proximity of the beer pump is a little dangerous, working in a publishers I have developed something of a problem. Too many books.

• Read full story

William Smith - working in the Vintage Marketing Department

There are just four people in the CCV marketing department ¬– Roger, Claire, Vicki and I. Between us, we deal with the marketing of every title published by the eight imprints in the CCV Division of Random House. The number of titles wanting attention can sometimes seem daunting, but one of the best things about working here is the variety. I can be looking at a Danish seafaring epic one minute and a history of Leeds United the next. To use a phrase that would get an author laughed out of the door, there’s never a dull moment.

• Read full story

Back to School
A day in a school workshop by Harvill Secker editor Briony Everroad It’s one of those things that always seems so far off in my calendar, and then creeps up. There are piles of urgent proofs and manuscripts and hastily scrawled to-do lists, but this one day has been blocked out for months in advance. On a hot June day we held the annual primary school workshop at the school just across the road, when I, along with several volunteers from Random House, take over the year six classroom for a day. Everyone in the class writes a story and sends it over to our building in advance. We choose our favourite (the kids love a bit of competition), and then use it as a model for illustrating the publishing process.

• Read full story