Eoin Purcell

There is always a danger of over hyping Penguin
After all, as a brand it has acquired a cult status. Its classic design efforts are heralded as revolutionary (funny thing that) and it seems to garner much more attention for its every effort than other houses.

In any case it’s blog is surely one of the truest successes for the major publishers. It generates copious content. It somehow manages to promote penguin’s every effort without seeming TOO pr. It sparkles with personality and you get a sense that while it is controlled, it still allows freedom of expression and to top it all it generates a huge amount of interaction and comments.

I like it. I read it regularly and enjoy it. I think it shows what can be done by a publisher with a blog. Not that there aren’t many other publishers doing the same or better. They were certainly early off the mark (if not perhaps the first as they somewhat over confidently proclaimed in their first post). They have rolled nicely into their third year and I imagine it will continue for some time to come.

There really isn’t much more to say.
Happy birthday to me
Eoin

Eoin Purcell

Half way there
So I am about half way through the biggies but I have a few thoughts.

1) The scattered nature of the major publishing conglomorates makes being sure you have all their blogging efforts included very difficult.
2) There is currently no hard and fast rules for what works. Some houses are doing well with multiple blogs, others (and I’m thinking of one that I will be posting on later today) are doing well with a single blog.
3) Some imprints are clearly ahead of their rivals which makes sense in that those imprints have distinct identities and management.
4) Publishers are embracing blogging across the board.
5) When I finish the majors I’m going to need a lot of work to address the work of smaller publishers and I’m not sure how to do that yet. Advice welcomed!

Just sketching up a New Title Meeting presentation,
Eoin