(New York, November 30, 2023)—Penguin Random House (PRH), alongside the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), has filed a lawsuit against the state of Iowa challenging its recently enacted Senate File 496 (SF 496). PRH and ISEA are joined by four renowned authors whose books have been banned or removed in Iowa—Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak and Shout), John Green (Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars), Malinda Lo (Last Night at the Telegraph Club and A Scatter of Light), and Jodi Picoult (19 Minutes)—three educators, a high school student, and a parent. SF 496 was enacted in May 2023 and prohibits books featuring any description or visual depiction of sex—regardless of context—from public school and classroom libraries, covering students all the way through twelfth grade. SF 496 also prohibits books relating in any way to gender identity or sexual orientation from school and classroom libraries for students through sixth grade.  Both bans encompass fiction and non-fiction alike. The challenge will seek a court order blocking enforcement of the book ban provisions of SF 496. These restrictions violate the First Amendment free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees the right to read and to be read, to exchange ideas and viewpoints without unreasonable government interference. The new Iowa state law flouts this core principle of the Constitution with sweeping legislation that eliminates student access to books with ideas and perspectives disliked by state authorities. The lawsuit further contends that Iowa’s stated rationale for SF 496—protecting children from pornography—is a pretext and contrary to the definition of obscenity as determined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Miller vs. California (1973). The student plaintiff is a senior at Urbandale High School and, as a result of SF 496, cannot access books including The Color Purple and The Handmaid’s Tale. District librarian Mari Butler Abry and middle school teachers Alyson Browder and Daniel Gutmann have each been subjected to widespread removal of books from their school and classroom libraries. Making restricted books available to their students risks severe penalties for themselves and their districts. “Our mission of connecting authors and their stories to readers around the world contributes to the free flow of ideas and perspectives that is a hallmark of American democracy—and we will always stand by it,” says Nihar Malaviya, CEO, Penguin Random House. “We know that not every book we publish will be for every reader, but we must protect the right for all Americans, including students, parents, caregivers, teachers, and librarians, to have equitable access to books and to continue to decide what they read.” SF 496 takes away the long-standing freedom of teachers and librarians to choose books for their libraries. Since enacted, SF 496 has resulted in chaos across the state as educators and school districts scramble to make sense of its vague, overbroad, and discriminatory rules in advance of its penalty provisions taking effect on January 1, 2024. Without clear guidance from the state, school districts are creating “Removal Lists” based on their own interpretations of SF 496. In Urbandale, Iowa, books prohibited from school and classroom libraries include Beloved, by Toni Morrison; Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison; The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison; Ulysses, by James Joyce; As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner; Forever, by Judy Blume; Push: A Novel, by Sapphire; The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood; and Native Son by Richard Wright. “This country has long upheld the principle that authors have the right to communicate their stories and ideas to the public, including students, and that students have a right to explore, choose, and learn from those books without discriminatory interference from the government,” says Anke Steinecke, EVP, Chief Legal Officer and General Council, Penguin Random House. “Statutes like SF 496 undermine these important rights and wrongfully subject librarians and educators and school districts to penalty just for doing their jobs.” “The professionals leading our classrooms, overseeing our libraries, and working with our students are trained in what is age-relevant and essential to include in our classrooms and on our shelves—determinations which are based on research and scientific understanding of developmentally appropriate concepts and ideas that best nurture and grow minds to successfully live in a democratic society and among other world populations,” said ISEA President Mike Beranek. “We stand firmly on the side of the experts in our schools and the parents supporting their children. We know parental choice and involvement are critical to a child’s success in school. We also know that there are systems in school districts across the state that specifically outline how a parent or guardian can object to their student participating or reading a book they feel is not appropriate for their child. We take issue with a law that also censors materials for everyone else’s child,” added Beranek. Penguin Random House is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by PEN America in Escambia County School District and School Board (FL) over unconstitutional book bans. The ISEA represents education professionals and employees in more than 300 school districts across the state. The plaintiffs are represented in the lawsuit by ArentFox Schiff LLP and Weinhardt Law. Contacts: Claire von Schilling, EVP & Director Corporate Communications & Social Responsibility, Penguin Random House cvonschilling@penguinrandomhouse.com Dominique Cimina, SVP, Publicity, Corporate Communications, & Author Brand Strategy, Random House Children’s Books 212-782-9314; dcimina@penguinrandomhouse.com Jean Hessburg, Public Relations Director, Iowa State Education Association 515-314-8799;  jean.hessburg@isea.org

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Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, is dedicated to its mission to ignite a universal passion for reading by creating books for everyone. The company, which employs more than 10,000 people globally, is owned by Bertelsmann. With more than 300 imprints and brands on six continents, Penguin Random House comprises adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital English, German, and Spanish-language trade book publishing businesses in more than 20 countries worldwide. With over 16,000 new titles and more than 700 million print, audio, and eBooks sold annually, Penguin Random House’s publishing lists include more than 80 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors. Iowa State Education Association represents preK-12 educators, education support professionals, community college faculty, Area Education Agency professionals, retired educators, and aspiring educators with contracts covering more than 50,000 employees. We promote quality public education by placing students at the center of everything we do while advocating for education professionals. ArentFox Schiff LLP With more than 600 lawyers and policy professionals, ArentFox Schiff LLP represents corporations, governments, private individuals, and trade associations. ArentFox Schiff has offices in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, and the firm provides strategic legal counsel to clients that range from Fortune 500 corporations and start-ups, to trade associations and foreign governments. As one of the most diverse general practice law firms in the country, ArentFox Schiff has roots in government service, a focus on legal excellence, and a commitment to the administration of justice. ArentFox Schiff has earned the distinction of being considered a premier law firm from The American Lawyer, Chambers USA, and Legal 500.  

All this information is helpful in positioning the books. We need to understand how our customers are searching for books—be it the book’s title, author's name or by genre—and target them accordingly. In a world where most consumers are shopping online, it is critical that we analyze our competition well and then play to our strengths. Unlike most industries, book sales are driven by trends and moments that could be as short as a day. It is important to predict and capture those trends and moments to provide our readers with the books they're looking for. As an example, we have seen how certain genres pick up during certain times: Feel-good books are more in demand around Christmas and end of the year and romance titles sell particularly well during Valentine's week. As the leading publishing house in the country, we are in the lucky situation to offer our readers the widest, most diverse selection of content. ENT OF ALL SKIES by Vincent C. Sales is a mythological Filipino fantasy published by Penguin Random House SEA, which we also marketed in the U.S. It was important to first understand the author’s profile in the country and then build on from there. Since the title was no published in the United States, we looked at the market of similar books in this genre and then targeted people who are searching with a discovery intent. We positioned our book with comparable titles and used the pull for those to build visibility for our book. With the help of the marketing and publicity teams, we got the word out through influencers, reviewers, and bloggers. This approach ultimately led readers to search for the book and take the next steps!  

Deep diving into the author’s social media personality and understanding his target audience became my key. From crowd sourcing book design covers through Durjoy’s Instagram profile, to conducting fun activities like asking the readers to guess the title of the book, to eventually revealing the cover with a huge bang, we kickstarted the marketing campaign on social media that resulted in magnificent buzz of over 3,000 pre-orders. We opened at #3 overall on the Nielsen charts and within top 10 on Amazon, and continued to be a best-seller in many categories. Leveraging Durjoy Datta's significant following, we focused on digital activations in the initial phase. Over the next few months, we had regular on-the-go brainstorm sessions with Durjoy to create unique and interesting content to promote his title and engage audiences through his profile. Identifying the author’s top performing markets—both in retail and on Amazon—and then conceptualising, strategising, and executing a 20-city book tour across India was our big plan! Brand partnerships for Durjoy’s travel; coordination with bookstores and internal sales teams; amplifying the outreach through bookstagrammers, media, and user-generated content led to never-seen-before turnouts in each of the cities. The retail outlets, which had suffered a hit during the pandemic, were excited to host Durjoy and receive a great footfall. It is also heartwarming to witness how readers across the country have been pouring out their love for Durjoy and his books, thanking Penguin for bringing their favourite author to the cities! That’s the power of the world of books! While working on the marketing campaign rigorously for months and managing many other titles alongside, I couldn’t have imagined for the book tour to come alive in this extraordinary way. But the best reward was when Durjoy attributed the book and tour’s success to me, even though he was the one travelling to a new city daily for a month, engaging with his audience!

The producers pour the content into the form. They are responsible for the choice of typeface, layout, format, materials, and finishes. We advise marketing and editorial staff on the appropriate layout and cover design for the respective target groups. Each manufacturer oversees many different books in parallel, for which it organizes production, i.e. ensures that the schedule is adhered to, and coordinates every detail with the various service providers. The production department is responsible, for example, for commissioning typesetters, litho companies, and printers. Paper purchasing and basic printing negotiations take place centrally for all publishers in our publishing group. We have standards and framework agreements for many book formats, so that the majority of our books can be produced quickly and efficiently. However, there are also special projects that are planned and designed completely individually. This is where the manufacturer can get creative: our consulting expertise is in demand when it comes to format, material selection, and finishing. A very special example is the magnificent volume of "It" on the occasion of Stephen King's 75th birthday. For this lavish new edition, we engaged a well-known illustrator, and developed the design and finishing concept together with a designer.  On the basis of various material samples, production, and editing jointly selected which material, colors, and components would best suit the book and target group—we are always working within the conflicting priorities of cost, time, sustainability, and effect. Many production steps also take place almost invisibly in the background, but are just as important. In particular, the optimization of digital processes as well as the maintenance and editing of data and metadata have become indispensable in order to produce efficiently and on time and also to create accessible digital products. Additionally, sustainability has long played a major role in the production of our books, and is therefore traditionally located in manufacturing. The use of environmentally friendly papers and low-pollutant, recyclable materials are core components of our daily work. We are constantly testing new materials for use in our books and advising our colleagues in the editorial and sales departments, as well as our authors. I'm very pleased to see how much this topic has become part of our colleagues' minds. Furthermore, we are always educating ourselves so that we can continue to give our authors' stories the most beautiful packaging.

Our supply chain is comprised of books and book-related processes, physical and digital, orders, and payment from our bookseller customers. Once books are printed and bound by outside printers, they are received and stored in one of our four distribution centers located across the country. Books are packed in full carton and loose locations. Once an order is received and processed via customer service or EDI order processing, our floor staff picks, packs, and ships the requested titles to our customers. So, we need inventory, and we need orders—which we receive hourly from multiple national accounts and local independent booksellers. The inventory and amount of orders we receive dictate our long-term warehouse size, locations, capabilities, employee count, and the shifts our staff work in each center. As the EVP & Chief Supply Chain Officer, I have the privilege of leading more than 2,000 colleagues in our Westminster, Crawfordsville, Reno, and Hampstead fulfillment centers, from which I direct a massive, cross-functional, end-to-end North American and international supply chain—shipping two-million books worldwide daily. Together with Sales, my team and I also have developed numerous innovative programs that benefit our retail customers, such as the two-day rapid shipments for the year-end holidays, and beyond. While most of our customers follow our standard processes, there are some accounts that are managed by the Special Markets Sales teams that require special handling and administration. Our largest special market account by far is The Dollywood Foundation, inspired by Dolly Parton, who operate the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library® program. This year, Imagination Library reached a new milestone where 10% of all children under five-years-old in the U.S receive a monthly book from Imagination Library. The team, led by Lisa Vitelli in the Special Markets division, is responsible for working with The Dollywood Foundation's committee, who annually select the books that are shipping to the children each month. These customized children’s books are stored in the Crawfordsville, Indiana, distribution center. The fulfillment teams have worked to precisely time the picking and shipping of those books to The Dollywood Foundation's mailing house. We label the pallets in a special way for the mailing house so that they can efficiently receive in, store, and ultimately process over two million books each month. As Imagination Library aspires to continue to grow, we will need to increase our space requirements, readjust our transportation methods, and modify our picking and shipping processes. We look forward to the challenge. I am holding up the book THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD as that is the first book a child receives when they are enrolled in the Imagination Library program. The Dollywood Foundation purchases nearly 500,000 of them annually. We are proud to support this important cause and do our part to increase literacy in our country.