Penguin Group (USA) Announces Innovative New Paperback Format, Penguin Premium

NEW YORK, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- This summer, Maeve Binchy, Clive Cussler and Nora Roberts will sport a new look in paperback when Penguin Group (USA) introduces the Penguin Premium format -- a new, upmarket format, specially designed to feel better and read more comfortably than the current mass market paperbacks.

"We are offering the reader hardcover values at a paperback price," said Norman Lidofsky, President of Paperback Sales for Penguin Group (USA). "And the initial response from our customers has been tremendous." The Premium format features a larger trim size, yet will still fit standard retailers' racks. The improvement is most apparent in the interior design, which has been crafted with the production values of a hardcover book in mind: higher quality paper, more white space both in the margins and between the lines of text, and a larger font size throughout. The result is a much more enjoyable reading experience.

Penguin Group (USA) CEO David Shanks added, "We're addressing the needs of our readers; our readership has changed dramatically, so it's almost hard to believe that this is the first time the mass market format has been re-engineered in the last 50 years. Frankly, it's overdue."

Penguin successfully tested the format in December 2004 with the Berkley paperback original Disordered Minds by Minette Walters. Follow-up research suggests that paperback readers prefer the new Premium format, and are not discouraged by the slightly higher price point of $9.99. Now, Penguin will bring the format to a much wider audience as it moves to publish lead 2005 titles in the Premium format.

The first Premium format titles from the Berkley, Jove and Signet imprints of The Berkley Publishing Group and New American Library will be among Penguin Group (USA)'s largest mass market paperback releases of the year. The complete launch list is as follows:

                                July 2005
     NIGHT OF RAIN AND STARS by Maeve Binchy (reprint from hardcover)

                               August 2005
                   LOST CITY by Clive Cussler (Reprint)
          LYON'S GATE by Catherine Coulter (Original paperback)

                               October 2005
                NORTHERN LIGHTS by Nora Roberts (Reprint)
                TWO DOLLAR BILL by Stuart Woods (Reprint)

                              November 2005
          NIGHT GAME by Christine Feehan   (Original paperback)

                               January 2006
                      MARKER by Robin Cook (Reprint)

Leslie Gelbman, President of Mass Market Paperbacks, Penguin Group (USA), said, "The addition of the Premium format to the existing Mass Market, Trade Paper and Hardcover publishing programs will allow us to better serve all of our readers. I am excited to be on the forefront of this very important development in paperback publishing."

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Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children's trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Berkley Books, Dutton, Frederick Warne, G.P. Putnam's Sons, Grosset & Dunlap, New American Library, Penguin Books, The Penguin Press, Philomel, Plume, Puffin, Riverhead Books and Viking, among others. The Penguin Group (http://www.penguin.com/) is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.