The Bookseller’s Joel Rickett reports that Random House UK is set to give venerable Penguin – who hold 65% of the British classics market – a run for the money on the classics front. RH’s plan? Transforming Vintage, its paperback line, into a recognized classics brand. The August 2007 launch of the Vintage Classics list, with 20 titles, is being described as the biggest move in the paperback imprint’s 16-year history, backed by “huge” editorial and marketing investment. The new-look cover designs will use “approachable but iconic” images to appeal to book lovers, while introductions will be by authors rather than academics.
Rachel Cugnoni, Vintage publishing director, said: “Each time an author has come back it has built the bottom line and the Vintage brand. But now everybody who could return has done so, including Julian Barnes. We had no more natural growth to come, so we had to think of a way of increasing the business, and we had to protect our authors from becoming Penguin Classics of the future. There are no advances and royalties for us to pay, but it is high risk for Random House to go into a market dominated by Penguin. If we don’t do this now, eventually everything will belong to Penguin. We’re really the only other house that can take them on.”
Random House UK has presented the plans, which aim to release six to eight titles a month over the next five years, split between out-of-copyright work and new editions, which will be rebranded as Vintage Classics. to select retailers in confidence. Launch marketing will include tailored trade promotions, customised p.o.s. material, a new website at vintage-classics.info, and a major publication “stunt”.