Penguin Books Australia

More than 40 aspiring writers attended the inaugural Penguin School of Popular Writing held at Penguin’s new head office in Melbourne last weekend to learn what it takes to make a bestseller – and how to write one themselves.

With a focus on commercial women’s fiction, the full-day seminar featured inspiring presentations by Penguin Publisher Ali Watts and Penguin Editor Carol George, as well as practical workshops by international bestselling Australian authors Anne Gracie and Fiona McIntosh which had the students laughing aloud, taking copious notes, and asking plenty of questions.

'Our inaugural Penguin School of Popular Writing was a terrific day. A great group of people made our first event of this kind informative, inspiring and fun. Our guest authors were truly sensational.' – Ali Watts, Penguin Publisher

The overwhelming response from students has exceeded expectations with comments including:

“It’s the type of information that’s often hard to get and yet so helpful and insightful.”
“It was great to have the focus on more commercial aspects of fiction.”
“The practical information on plot, character and detail was most inspiring.”
“Excellent to hear from Australian published authors. Encouraging but realistic advice.”

'We’ve been thrilled with the enthusiastic response to our first Penguin Writing School. We love the way it brings us into direct conversation with aspiring writers and voracious readers, and we’d like to see whether there’s interest in other cities, and of course other genres in which we have expertise, so we’ll be offering further writing days throughout the year, presented by a mix of our editors and authors.' – Ben Ball, Penguin Publishing Director

Details for the next Penguin School of Writing will be announced on www.penguin.com.au

The following books are finalists in the 2012 Australian Romance Readers Association Awards.

Favourite Paranormal Romance

Archangel of Mercy by Christina Ashcroft

Favourite Sci Fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance

Alliance Forged by Kylie Griffin

Blood Kin by MJ Scott

Favourite Historical Romance

A Duchess to Remember by Christina Brooke

Bride by Mistake by Anne Gracie

Mad About the Earl by Christina Brooke

Favourite Contemporary Romance

Heart of the Valley by Cathryn Hein

Rules Are For Breaking by Imelda Evans

Zoe's Muster by Barbara Hannay

Favourite Erotic Romance

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Favourite Romantic Suspense

Burning Lies by Helene Young

Favourite Continuing Romance Series

Heiress In Love: A Ministry of Marriage Novel by Christina Brooke

Favourite Australian Romance Authors 2012

Anne Gracie

Christina Brooke

Kelly Hunter

Members' Choice Categories

Best First Meeting Between Couple in a Romance Published in 2012

Bear Meets Girl by Shelly Laurenston

Best Love Scene from a Romance Published in 2012

Bride by Mistake by Anne Gracie

Favourite Cover from a Romance Published in 2012

Blood Kin by MJ Scott

Voting will close on February 13 2013

For more information please visit the Australian Romance Readers Association website

Penguin Books Australia is proud to launch the Penguin School of Popular Writing, an exclusive one-day seminar for aspiring writers of commercial fiction. Learn from industry-leading insiders Ali Watts (Associate Publisher at Penguin), Carol George (from Penguin’s new digital imprint, Destiny Romance) and award-winning Australian authors Fiona McIntosh and Anne Gracie just what it takes to make a bestseller – and how you can write one yourself.

With a particular focus on Commercial Women’s Fiction, this will be an inspiring and informative day-long seminar for anyone interested in what goes on behind the scenes in the book world.

This exclusive one-day seminar is on Saturday 19 January 2013 at Penguin Books Australia, 707 Collins Street, Melbourne.
For registration, booking information and fees visit Penguin School of Popular Writing.
For further information contact General Publishing at Penguin.

29 October 2012

Penguin and Random House to Combine Creating the World’s Leading Trade Publisher; Penguin Random House

London and New York – Pearson and Bertelsmann today announce an agreement to create the world’s leading consumer publishing organisation by combining Penguin and Random House.

The combination brings together two of the world’s leading English language publishers, with highly complementary skills and strengths. Random House is the leading English language publisher in the US and the UK, while Penguin is the world’s most famous publishing brand and has a strong presence in fast-growing developing markets. Both companies have a long history of publishing excellence, and both have been pioneers in the dramatic industry transformation towards digital publishing and bookselling.

Under the terms of the agreement, Penguin and Random House will combine their businesses in a newly-created joint venture named Penguin Random House. Bertelsmann will own 53% of the joint venture and Pearson will own 47%. The joint venture will exclude Bertelsmann’s trade publishing business in Germany and Pearson will retain rights to use the Penguin brand in education markets worldwide.

Bertelsmann will nominate five directors to the Board of Penguin Random House and Pearson will nominate four. John Makinson, currently chairman and chief executive of Penguin, will be chairman of Penguin Random House and Markus Dohle, currently chief executive of Random House, will be its chief executive.

In reviewing the long-term trends and considerable change affecting the consumer publishing industry, Pearson and Bertelsmann both concluded that the publishing and commercial success of Penguin and Random House can best be sustained and enhanced through a partnership with another major international publishing house. They believe that the combined organisation will have a stronger platform and greater resources to invest in rich content, new digital publishing models and high-growth emerging markets. The organisation will generate synergies from shared resources such as warehousing, distribution, printing and central functions. Pearson and Bertelsmann intend that the combined organisation’s level of organic investment in authors and new product models will exceed the total investment of Penguin and Random House as independent publishing houses.

The two companies believe that the combination will create a highly successful new organisation, both creatively and commercially, with the breadth and investment capacity to deliver significant benefits. Readers will have access to a wider and more diverse range of frontlist and backlist content in multiple print and digital formats. Authors will gain a greater depth and breadth of service, from traditional frontlist publishing to innovative self-publishing, on a global basis. Employees of the new organisation will be part of the world’s first truly global consumer publishing company, committed to sustained editorial excellence and long-term investment in a rich diversity of content. And shareholders will benefit from participating in the consolidation of the consumer publishing industry without having to deploy additional capital.

The combination is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals, including merger control clearances, and is expected to complete in the second half of 2013.

In 2011, Random House reported revenues of €1.7bn (£1.48bn) and operating profit of €185m (£161m). Penguin reported revenues of £1.0bn and operating profit of £111m with total assets of £1.0bn. After completion, Pearson will report its 47% share of profit after tax from the joint venture as an associate in its consolidated income statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, neither Pearson nor Bertelsmann may sell any part of their shareholding in Penguin Random House for three years. To protect Pearson’s interests as a minority shareholder, if Bertelsmann declines a Pearson offer to sell its entire shareholding, Pearson may require a recapitalisation by which Penguin Random House raises debt of up to 3.5x EBITDA, with a dividend distributed to shareholders in line with their ownership. In addition, from five years after completion, either partner may require an IPO of Penguin Random House.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: “Penguin is a successful, highly-respected and much-loved part of Pearson. This combination with Random House – a company with an almost perfect match of Penguin’s culture, standards and commitment to publishing excellence – will greatly enhance its fortunes and its opportunities. Together, the two publishers will be able to share a large part of their costs, to invest more for their author and reader constituencies and to be more adventurous in trying new models in this exciting, fast-moving world of digital books and digital readers.“

Thomas Rabe, chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann, said: “With this planned combination, Bertelsmann and Pearson create the best course for new growth for our world-renowned trade-book publishers, to enable them to publish even more effectively across traditional and emerging formats and distribution channels. It will build on our publishing tradition, offering an extraordinary diversity of publishing opportunities for authors, agents, booksellers, and readers, together with unequalled support and resources.”

John Makinson, Chairman and CEO of Penguin, said: “All of us who work in book publishing experience every day the breathtaking pace of change in our industry. The partnership that we are announcing today will position Penguin Random House at the forefront of that change. Our access to investment resources will allow us to take risks with new authors, to defend our creative and editorial independence, to publish the broadest range of books on the planet, and to do it all with the attention to quality that has always characterised both our great companies.”

Markus Dohle, Chairman & CEO of Random House, adds: “Our new company will bring together the publishing expertise, experience, and skill sets of two of the world's most successful, enduring trade book publishers. In doing so, we will create a publishing home that gives employees, authors, agents, and booksellers access to unprecedented resources. I deeply believe that the support and services that we will be able to offer, coupled with the creative and editorial independence that we will continue to maintain, will benefit everyone in the book publishing environment, especially our passionate readers from today's generation to the next.”

For more information please contact:

Becca Sinclair
+44 (0) 78 0890 5288
Rebecca.Sinclair@uk.penguingroup.com

Erica Glass
(646) 3099460
Erica.Glass@us.penguingroup.com

Toby Jones
+44 (0) 20 7010 3345
Toby.Jones@uk.penguingroup.com

The Australian Moment by George Megalogenis

The People Smuggler by Robin de Crespigny

For more information visit the Walkley Foundation website