inside our company: only on Igloo

Penguin Random House Canada Recognized as a Greater Toronto Top Employer for 2020

Penguin Random House Canada has been recognized as one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers for 2020. The accolade, given annually for the past fourteen years through Canada’s Top 100 Employers to companies that set the standard for workplace best practices and forward-thinking policies, is awarded based on a rigorous evaluation of criteria ranging from employee benefits, vacation, and time off to work atmosphere to community involvement.  Now in its 20th year, Canada’s Top 100 Employers project is the nation’s largest competition of its kind.

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Penguin Random House Canada, the country’s largest book publisher, is headquartered in downtown Toronto, where it employs over 200 people, with additional locations in Mississauga and Vancouver. Under the leadership of Kristin Cochrane, who became CEO in July 2018, the company is committed to being the best home for publishing talent through a comprehensive range of employee-centric policies and programs. Among the highlights of Penguin Random House Canada’s notable offerings are a defined benefit plan and registered retirement savings plan matching program, a student loan repayment program, an industry-leading mental health and social work annual benefit, and an annual wellness reimbursement to encourage physical fitness. Development programs including a mentor-match system, in-house training opportunities, and a generous educational assistance program for job-related learning are also available to support employees in advancing their careers and enhancing their contributions to the company story. Another notable benefit of working at Penguin Random House Canada—paid volunteer days—reveals a central theme: giving back. Employees have numerous opportunities to use their volunteer days with the company’s community partners across Canada, including the Indigenous Voices Awards, the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD), and First Book Canada, in partnership with whom Penguin Random House Canada has donated over 150,000 books to children from low-income families in Canada this year alone (and over 1.4 million books over the past seven years). On receiving news of the award, Cochrane said: “We are extremely honoured to be recognized as a GTA Top Employer for 2020. We’re committed to putting employees at the centre of our decision-making and I’m proud of our ongoing commitment to our communities with both the books we publish and the social impact work we do in important areas such as Indigenous writing and children’s literacy.” Adds Anika Holder, Vice President and Director, Human Resources: “A culture of inclusion is essential to safeguarding community, and community is a big part of who we are. It’s rewarding to have our workplace recognized for the support we have in place for our employees, and to have their contributions to a strong company culture recognized in this manner.” More information about the award can be found here. Penguin Random House Canada on publication day for THE TESTAMENTS and celebrating the Toronto Raptors NBA championship (2019).

RHCB Sales Rep Kate Sullivan is NEIBA’s 2018 Gilman Award Winner

The New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA) has announced that Random House Children’s Books Sales Manager Kate Sullivan has won its 2018 Saul Gilman Award, for outstanding service as a sales representative to New England independent bookstores. Congratulations to Kate on this well-deserved honor.

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[caption id="attachment_116570" align="alignright" width="280"] Kate Sullivan with Carl Hiaasen[/caption] In tandem with this recognition, the July 11 edition of NEIBA News leads off with a feature article on Kate that reads, in part: “Kate has always loved books, and was known to spend way too much time in the local library as a child; she even became a library volunteer during Junior High. Her first paying job with books was at Barnes & Noble in downtown Boston, where part of her job was to work with publisher reps on backlist orders, and she eventually became one of them as the NE rep for Pocket Books. After a couple of years she moved to Washington, DC to work for Ballantine Books but discovered that the mid-Atlantic states were a little too warm for a northern girl and moved back to New England. Due to some perfect timing (and Chuck Dresner) she became a rep for the Random House Merchandise Division, later renamed Random House Children's Books, and the rest is history, a 31-year history. “When she's not selling, reading, merchandising, gift wrapping, driving, baking and selling some more, Kate can be found in a big old house in the country with her many rescue cats, inevitably doing a little more baking, gardening, home improving, and quilting. And always, more reading.”  

How “Rev Up for Reading” Inspires Crawfordsville Students to Read

The chance to engage with a real-life Monster Truck has sparked many students’ interest in reading books at a number of elementary schools in Crawfordsville, Indiana, thanks to Rev Up for Reading, a wonderful program created by Beth Hiatt, Manager, Receiving, at our Crawfordsville distribution center, and her husband. Beth explains, “With our program, teachers challenge their students to read. They set a ‘minutes goal’ and track their progress throughout the school year. As a reward, we bring our Monster Truck to their school towards the end of the academic year.

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“We've worked with schools since 2009, usually two a year. Our first school had 330 kids who read 56,000 books in order to ride in our truck. More recently, we just do displays; let the kids see the truck; answer questions, and give away pictures, Frisbees, posters, and my favorite Penguin Random House books.” Beth branded the program Rev Up for Reading, because, “for me, this is where the rubber meets the road: My love for books and reading; and supporting reading for our youth. “When we hear the stories about kids who could not read at the beginning of the school year; but can read by the end of the year it inspires us to do more. When we hear that kids read 30,000 minutes – that's one class of 22 - 24 students – just to see our truck, it means we are doing something right.” Look at the expressions on the faces of these children – who read for 30,000 minutes – posing with the Monster Truck. Beth and her husband deserve special commendation for the remarkable results that their program has achieved. For more information about Rev Up for Reading, click here.

PRH’s LGBTQ Network Featured in PW; Igloo Interviews Network Co-Chair Nora Alice Demick

Coinciding with the beginning of Pride Month, Publisher’s Weekly featured a special section devoted to LGBTQ Publishing. The lead article, “Office Support: Pride Groups at Publishing Houses Bring Employees Together and Advocate for LGBTQ Books,” opened with a fabulous photo of the Penguin Random House LGBTQ Network. Nora Alice Demick, who co-chairs the network with Tan Chan, was quoted extensively throughout the piece.

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Here is an excerpt:

Nora Alice Demick, who works in marketing at Riverhead, Viking, and Penguin Books, co-chairs the Penguin Random House LGBTQ Network with Tan Chan, a designer. They inherited the group from founder Emanuel Xavier, a poet, author, and activist who works in special markets at PRH. Xavier launched the network in 2011 on the heels of the company creating a video for the It Gets Better project, which supports bullied LGBTQ youths.

Demick and Chan took the lead in 2017, and one of their first changes was to add the Q to the group’s name. “We thought this would better represent the different orientations and gender identities that we have here at PRH, and we wanted people to know that we acknowledged their existence,” Demick says. “We want people, LGBTQ or otherwise, to know that we’re here. That was one of the biggest issues—no one knew that there was an LGBTQ network at PRH.”

In the past year, the network has expanded from brown bag lunches and happy hours to fundraising and volunteering. “We did a huge, successful bake sale for the Trinity Place Shelter, a homeless shelter for LGBTQ youth in Manhattan,” Demick says. “We sold out in an hour and had to go scrounge up croissants because we didn’t have anything else left to sell.”

About 150 employees have signed up for the group’s mailing list. The network will participate in New York’s Pride March again this year and is organizing book giveaways and panel discussions throughout June. Activities come to a head during Pride Month, but the group also pursues long-term projects, such as its crowdsourced bibliography of LGBTQ literature.

“To look back and see that we have all these titles by LGBTQ individuals—as a queer person, it’s empowering,” Demick says. “It makes me confident every single day walking into work.”

To read the complete PW article, click here. Feel free to spread the word on social media. A reminder: if you are posting to a personal or other non-PRH account you must include the hashtag #TeamPRH. Following the publication of this article, Igloo interviewed Nora Alice Demick. Read our Q&A with her below: What were your first reactions to seeing/reading how prominently the Penguin Random House LGBTQ Network was featured in the “Office Support” article as part of PW’s LGBTQ Publishing special section? At the risk of sounding thematic, definitely pride. An overwhelming sense of pride— and excitement, of course! There are many other organizations that are doing such important work and to be alongside them in the article is an honor. [caption id="attachment_114138" align="alignright" width="300"] Tan Chan and Nora Alice Demick[/caption] How do you think this exposure will help raise awareness of the PRH LGBTQ Network and LGBTQ publishing? Both in-house and externally, I think exposure has been one of our greatest challenges. I’m hoping this article will help us break through some of the noise to reach new employees and other organizations with likeminded goals. In many ways, LGBTQ initiatives in publishing have run under the radar in comparison to other forms of media. Now, PW has introduced not only to the public, but to each other! We’re already brainstorming how we can collaborate and work with other groups. How has the Network evolved since you and Tan took the helm? I think we’ve evolved in a lot of ways— one of our first objectives was adding the “Q” to the end of LGBT, to better represent the many different orientations and gender identities that we have here at PRH. We’ve also grown our board. Tan and I had a lot of ideas (and a lot of enthusiasm!) and quickly realized the difficulties of trying to accomplish so much with just the two of us. We interviewed candidates and brought on a Design Chair, an Advocacy Chair, a Social Chair and an Uptown Chair, each with a specific skill set to help us develop in new areas. We think we have a more consistent presence then we had in the past, while also building an online footprint to connect with the greater queer community (shameless plug: follow us on Instagram @prhlgbtq!). And we just want to keep expanding our Network-- in-house and beyond. Where would you like to see the PRH LGBTQ Network go from here? Everywhere (eventually)! First and foremost, the roots of our network are the diverse employees of PRH, and that’s always going to be where it starts-- connecting employees, making sure they feel heard and safe. We want to grow our monthly activities to be more varied, we want to sponsor more networking events and we want our email distro to reach 30 million subscribers before corporate does (just kidding)! There are so many incredible diversity initiatives happening company-wide— we are working on finding our place in this larger ecosystem. As queer topics/titles become more prominent, we want to help PRH navigate this new reader landscape and as I mentioned in the article, we’d love to one day have imprints reach out directly to us every time they publish an LGBTQ+ book, or acquire a queer author. In the immediate future, we will be marching in the NYC Pride March on the 24th, which we are very excited for.

Support the #WearOrange Movement and National Gun Violence Awareness Day TODAY, Friday, 6/1

National Gun Violence Awareness Day is TODAY, June 1st. This year, Penguin Publishing Group has partnered with Everytown for Gun Safety and the #WearOrange movement to recognize the date and to help send a powerful message to end gun violence.

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Penguin Random House colleagues who wish to support #WearOrange can stop by the 375 Hudson Street offices, in conference room 5172, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon today. Come create care-cards for families of victims of gun violence and learn more about the #WearOrange mission. Snacks will be provided. Other ways to participate include wearing an orange piece of clothing or creating your own #WearOrange image for social sharing. As a reminder: if you are posting to a personal or other non-PRH account you must include the hashtag #TeamPRH. Additionally, Penguin Publishing Group and Everytown will be partnering on an in-booth activation at Book Con, at the Javits Convention center, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 2. Attendees can participate in a dedication wall as well as a #WearOrange photo op. The #WearOrange movement originated on June 2, 2015 in honor of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl who was shot and killed in Chicago one week after marching in President Obama’s 2nd D.C. inaugural parade in January 2013. In the days and weeks following, Hadija’s friends commemorated her by wearing orange – the color many hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others from harm. There are several ways to donate to #WearOrange and its partner organizations, who are working hard every day to build a future where every American can live free from gun violence. For a full list, click here. When making donations, remember that the Penguin Random House Matching Gifts program will annually match up to $2,500 for all U.S. employees. To download the Matching Gifts Form, click here.
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“Be My Cover” Exhibit: Watch Video of Our Designers In Conversation

Penguin Random House, in partnership with Strand Book Store, recently presented an exhibit of 100 notable book covers created by a select group of Penguin Random House creative designers and art directors in a special Be My Cover exhibit in the Rare Book Room at Strand Book Store in New York City.

To celebrate the exhibit, Penguin Random House presented a conversation with acclaimed designers Peter Mendelsund, Jaya Miceli, Oliver Munday and Helen Yentus on May 14, when the featured guests were able to discuss their experiences designing for books.

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The sold-out event was moderated by exhibit curators Fabrizio La Rocca and Roberto Maria Clemente. Many Penguin Random House designers, past and present, were able to attend the panel, along with excited book and design lovers from across NYC. Topics covered include favorite designs, common pitfalls when designing for books, and how to keep their creative juices flowing. In case you missed it, the Be My Cover exhibit will be on display in the lobby at 1745 Broadway during Company Week (June 18 – 22). To read a transcript of the Be My Cover Strand conversation with our designers, click here. Watch a video of the event below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBQaX0mP-TE&feature=youtu.be

Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Sue Grafton

Friends, family and colleagues of #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton celebrated her life and legacy on Tuesday, April 24, throughout a special memorial at the New York Public Library. The publishing industry was well represented with authors, media, and publishing colleagues from Penguin Random House and Holt, alongside many of Sue’s family and friends. G.P. Putnam’s Sons President Ivan Held welcomed the group and noted that “we’ve all worked with writers we admire, writers we are in awe of, writers who are entertaining or menschy or funny. Sue was all that – but Sue: we also LOVED her … everyone who worked with her loved her.”

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[caption id="attachment_112201" align="alignright" width="300"] Marian Wood[/caption] Ivan introduced Sue’s longtime editor Marian Wood, who told the story of discovering Sue after receiving the first 60-pages of A IS FOR ALIBI. After devouring them overnight and initially receiving pushback from her publisher at the time, Marian and those of her colleagues who believed that Sue was something special pushed the Alphabet Series to mega-success over the course of thirty-five years, now with untold millions of copies sold around the world in twenty-six languages. Sue’s literary agent Molly Friedrich, together since B IS FOR BURGLAR, gave an emotional speech about her last visit with Sue just a few months before she passed. At the time, Sue was undergoing chemotherapy, but she still baked Molly a birthday cake from scratch. “I had assumed my birthday cake would be made by Liz Gastiger, their long-term chef and friend. But no, Sue had made my cake herself: a perfect lemon genoise with buttercream frosting,” Friedrich said. “There’s something so deeply moving about this beloved writer, not an ounce over ninety pounds, baking me a sublime birthday cake.” After Lucy Carson of the Friedrich Agency read a remembrance from Judy Kaye, the voice of Kinsey Millhone in the audiobook editions of the Alphabet, author and journalist Sarah Weinman shared what she loved about Sue’s novels: “Trailblazers don’t announce themselves upon arrival…The two qualities I appreciated most about Grafton were her loyalty, and her restlessness. She stayed true to Kinsey and the series conceit for her entire career, yes, but did not allow herself to stagnate, writing the same book over and over again…Sue Grafton died too soon, but she remained in control till the end. She had not begun writing the final book in the series, which was to be published in August 2019 as Z is for Zero. That leaves us with Grafton’s last published words, as always both ‘respectfully submitted’ and sharply delivered by Kinsey: ‘I’m not saying justice is for sale, but if you have enough money, you can sometimes enjoy the benefits of a short-term lease.’” [caption id="attachment_112200" align="alignleft" width="300"] Harlan Coben[/caption] Author Michael Connelly told heartfelt stories, then author J.R. Ward reflected on her friendship with Sue. They first met when Sue agreed to read her manuscript: “She had this bizarre thing where she’d read 50 pages of anyone’s work. The only condition was that you had to be willing to take her criticism. Years later, I would ask her why the hell she would do that, and she said, ‘Because the shitshows are even better than the good stuff!’ [When we first met to discuss my manuscript], she gave me more information in that hour than I had had about writing in the ten years that I was trying to get published.” Bird finished her speech by recalling the last time she saw Sue, at a holiday party late last year. “I thought I had more time,” she said. “And that’s the problem with life—you can’t see how few pages are left.” An emotional remembrance of Sue was delivered by bestselling author Harlan Coben, a fan of her books before they became close friends. “We all have people in our life who make every room better,” he began. “Every place that they happen to be in is just a little better because they were there. Sue was certainly one of those people … She was funny, she was biting, she was honest, irreverent, intelligent, warm, inquisitive, insightful. She was cutting, and most of all … she was generous.” Towards the end of his speech, Coben revealed that his “alphabet letters” tie included all of the letters except Z—a perfect tribute to Sue and her legacy, which he gave to Sue’s husband after the ceremony. [caption id="attachment_112203" align="alignright" width="300"] Steve Humphrey[/caption] Finally, Sue’s daughter Jamie Clark and her husband Steve Humphrey shared recollections of what Sue was like as a mother and wife. “I’m going to tell you a little about what my mother taught me,” Clark began. “My mother taught me about persistence, just by the way she lived her life. She wasn’t just an author, she was a writer. She wrote every single day. Rain or shine … My mother was a force of nature—not the destructive kind like a tornado or hurricane, but the gentle creative kind, like the spring sunshine that melts the snow and coaxes the flowers to bloom … For as long as there have been mothers and daughters, their relationships have been complicated. But not ours. Somehow, I lucked out when I stood in line for a mom. She was one of the best people I’ve ever known.” Humphrey began his speech by recalling how he and Sue first met, when they lived in the same apartment building. At the time, Sue was “a single mom raising two children … [She] and I had cats, and we would watch them play together in the courtyard between our apartments, her on the ground floor, me on the second, and make inane comments about how cute they were… That was the beginning of a forty-three year love affair. She adored me. I adored her. I consider myself to be infinitely blessed and fortunate. How many people get to find the love of their life at 23? And those of you who only knew her through her work, or only knew her professionally, really missed out. As brilliant as she was as a writer, and as disciplined as she was in her work, she was a much, much, much better wife, mother, friend and human being.” Following these heartfelt, funny, warm and sassy remembrances of Sue, the group toasted Sue’s life, work and friendship with some of Sue (and Kinsey’s) favorites: glasses of buttery chardonnay and triangles of peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

Crown Hosts NYU Students for an Inside Look at the Making of a Book That Matters

A contingent of 28 students from the NYU School of Professional Studies, led by Andrea Chambers, Director of NYU’s Center for Publishing, visited the Crown Publishing Group offices at 1745 Broadway on Friday, April 6, to learn about and discuss a forthcoming Fall 2018 title, THIRST by Scott Harrison, to be published on October 2 by CPG imprint Currency. The book is an inspiring personal story of redemption, second chances, and the transformative power of change, from the founder and CEO of the successful nonprofit charity: water.

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The Crown presentation featured Campbell Wharton, Associate Publisher, Currency; Group; Derek Reed, Editor, Convergent; Donna Passannante, Vice President, Executive Director, Marketing, Crown Publishing Group; Carisa Hays, Vice President, Executive Director of Publicity, Crown Publishing Group; and Megan Schumann, Manager, Publicity, Crown Publishing Group. They provided insights into the acquisition, editing and publishing processes as well as marketing and publicity campaigns for the book, and how it could help change the conversation about charities and our personal involvement in good works. The event concluded with a lively question & answer session. A few days later, NYU student Amanda Orozco wrote a wonderful blog post titled “Thirst for Change: Crown Publishing and Author Scott Harrison Team Up to Make a Difference.” Here is an excerpt: “What if… ?” This question is a leitmotif for Scott Harrison’s life and new book. What if a nightclub promoter wanted to do more with his time? What if he gave up the New York club scene to help people in developing African nations have clean water? What if he started a charity, charity: water, that put 100% of its donations into building wells in African nations with poor or polluted water supplies? What if his efforts helped 7.3 million people in Africa finally have clean drinking water and a reduction in disease? What if he could grow his charity from two people to over 70 in less than ten years? What if he could raise $3 million in less than 15 minutes? What if he could change the way charities are run forever… and change lives? “NYU M.S. in Publishing: Digital & Print Media students found out the answers to these and other questions when they were invited to be early readers of THIRST, Harrison’s forthcoming memoir. They were given special reading galleys in preparation for a recent visit to Harrison’s publisher, the Crown Publishing Group. During their visit, the students got to hear the story behind the story – the amazing publishing process of this book – from the members of the team that are bringing the book to life.” To read the complete NYU blog post, click here. Please note: author Scott Harrison will be featured at a Penguin Random House “Lunch & Learn” on Tuesday, June 5 at 1745 Broadway. Check back on Igloo for details in the coming days.

On Sabbatical: Gerry Bondoc Eats His Way Through Asia

Our On Sabbatical series is back! This time with Gerry Bondoc, Desktop Support Analyst in NYC. Read on to see how Gerry spent his sabbatical traveling to 11 cities and 5 countries in Asia this winter.

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  Where did you go and what kind of “to-do” list did you have? I went to all these cities for the first time: – Hong Kong – Taipei – Singapore – Tokyo – Osaka – Kobe – Kyoto – Seoul – Beijing – Shanghai – Macau I stayed anywhere from two to five nights, but I only made day trips to Kobe and Macau.  I flew from NYC to and from Hong Kong, so I stayed there and Tokyo twice.  My “to do” list comprised of (1) walking as much as I could through downtown areas, (2) sampling local, if not outlandish, food, (3) hitting up museums, (4) trying to see daily life in these huge cities.  I like “touristy” things such as going up skyscraper observatories and checking out local markets or just staring at a memorable skyline. What was involved in planning and deciding how to spend your sabbatical? I had decided to visit these places about two years ago.  I was first eligible for sabbatical in early 2017, but my work schedule didn’t permit it, so I postponed things a year to early 2018.  I actually flew out on Dec 23rd just as our week off for the holidays began, and my manager let me take a week of regular vacation at the end of Jan into early Feb to enable me to be out for six weeks.  I wanted to squeeze in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, but shortening each city’s stay and the extra 24 hours of travel time wouldn’t have been worth the effort. The planning was a bit of a headache.  I knew I would be traveling alone, so I had some  flexibility with the departure, arrival and length of stay, but I also knew the moment I booked the flights that I’d have to reserve the hotel rooms, and that translated to 41 nights in 11 hotel stays.  After mulling things over for months and checking airfares almost nightly, I finally booked everything the first weekend in October.  Soon after booking everything is when I bought the website and domain for my food blog, The Food Doof.   While I think the food write-ups are amateurish and inane, though honest, there are some decent photos and videos posted on there.  I’ll try to maintain it for future food-and-travel sojourns. I also packed as lightly as I could, bringing only about four days of clothes.  I wanted my luggage as a carry-on bag because I knew that would enable me to leave the airport as soon as I cleared customs.  Not having to wait at the baggage conveyor belt probably saved me 30 minutes at each of the nine airport arrivals.  And it wasn’t too inconvenient to do laundry twice a week, I guess. What book(s) did pack for your trip? I finished a biography on the famed conductor, Herbert von Karajan, on the flight from JFK to Hong Kong.  It was hard cover and because I was packing so lightly, it couldn’t fit in my backpack.  So I left it at the airport when I arrived.  I also had a paperback copy of Anthony Bourdain’s “A Cook’s Tour,” but I didn’t read it. What will be some of your most enduring memories of this sabbatical? I was glad to see with my own four eyes that each of these cities was loaded with masses of regular commuters who are working stiffs like so many of us on this side of the world.  It was also a little eerie being functionally illiterate and mute most of my time there since I only speak English.  But that helped keep me alert, I think.  And while I didn’t know anyone going into any of these places, I did meet a few people while dining alone, and I’m glad to have kept in touch with them.  The food was dynamite at almost all of my destinations, but I knew that part of the trip was really just an excuse to head out there and visit.  The walking around, the sightseeing, the people watching proved much more memorable.  Well, there were three or four meals that were out of this world…. As for specific memories, the night I went to the symphony at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall was pretty neat.  Before the conductor came out, there was a standing ovation given to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko as they walked out slowly to the front of the balcony.  There were as close as 15’ away from me while there on the walkway.  I asked the woman to my right as they walked in, “isn’t that the Emperor?”  She replied, “sorry, I don’t speak English.”  We Americans, I tell ya….  Anyhow, the couple were greeted with another huge ovation as they departed at the start of intermission.  It’s unfortunate they didn’t stay for the second half as that had the more famous music! Let’s see…the trip to the Great Wall while in Beijing was also very cool, and though it was cold that day, I lucked out with blue skies.  Also, my last day in Tokyo I was able to attend a tuna auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market, the world’s largest.  If I had $70,000 handy, I would’ve taken off my visitor’s vest and snuck in to purchase one, but I wouldn’t have been able to “make sure the item was tucked away firmly in the overhead compartments or underneath the seat in front of me.”  

Watch This 360 Video: How Our Books Travel Through Crawfordsville

Our Penguin Random House Digital Video Team has produced a 360 video that shows, in a dynamic way, how books travel through our Crawfordsville, Indiana distribution center.  “There is so much that happens to get a book into the marketplace and everyone here is part of that,” says Annette Danek, Senior Vice President of Fulfillment, who narrates the video. “Our 1,700 employees take so much pride in delivering our books with speed, accuracy and in pristine condition to our customers.” 

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The producer of the video, Lydia Cornett, Associate Video Producer, Digital Publishing Development, says, “360 video is great for immersing a viewer in a place, and Penguin Random House’s Crawfordsville Fulfillment Center seemed like a particularly exciting location to do this.” Annette offers this insight:  “Lydia and I met, and I explained what we do here in the Distribution Center and I learned about what she wanted to film. We have two different facilities so when I realized that it was a 360 degree camera I knew that we had to film in Crawfordsville as the elevations and the video path would be so much better in there due to the slight differences in conveyor design. I then had to convince Lydia to make the trip to Crawfordsville!  Once Lydia got the approvals I put her in touch with Lori Dereza (Vice President, Crawfordsville Operations) to schedule the filming. Mark Wollenberg (Assistant Director, Crawfordsville Fulfillment) did a test for us by taping a camera to a carton riding the conveyor, sorter, and fork trucks. Then we planned out the sequence for the filming.” “To make a 360 video,” says Lydia, “it’s important to create a shot list and think about where to position the camera so that it’s in the middle of the most action.  Since the camera records in 360 degrees, you also have to get into the habit of pressing record and leaving the space so you’re not in the shot.  I also incorporated voiceover as a way to understand what was happening in each scene. Annette did an awesome job with explaining the process!” Annette says, “The end product is awesome and I’m excited to explore how we can use this technology again!  We can use this video to help explain the warehouse operations to new employees.”  Her favorite part? “I have always wanted to ride the conveyor systems, and through this video I was able to do that.” Watch the Crawfordsville 360 video (For optimal viewing resolution click the gear icon in the lower right hand corner of the YouTube viewing screen, and change ‘Quality’ to the highest number. To get the full experience use Chrome or Firefox) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYRzcSkY0TE

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