One Ring to find them*

*’them’ being ‘books’ in this instance.

So which bit of the book to do you look at to help you decide whether to read it?  Are you a jacket and back cover copy person?  Do you read the first few lines or pick a page randomly?   (Admittedly, when MUCH younger I thought reading the last paragraph was a cunning plan.  That soon stopped when I discovered the Crime genre…)

Here at Hot Key Towers we’ve come up with a plan that should help.  Ladies and gentlemen, the Hot Key Ring!

(We also, in our rather cake based way, called it the Data Doughnut for a while.)

This little darling is going to appear on the back of every book, just by the barcode, to explain what the book is about.  This one shows the contents of SHRUNK! which we’re classing as being a mixture of ‘fun’, ‘science’, ‘friendship’ and ‘magic’, with ‘fun’ being the main element.

The themes listed, the amounts for said theme and the colours used will vary from book to book, but it will always be there, lurking with intent.

Hopefully you’ll find this useful – let us know what you think!  (And let us know if you too read the final paragraph first.  I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.)

Unveiling the Launch List

So, we have talked about various books on our launch list here and there, but the time has come to be able to share them ALL with you, in one place.

Later today, Emily, our Publisher, will take you behind the scenes on how you go about putting a launch list together, but for now, here are the nine titles which will launch Hot Key Books this summer.

It’s a big moment. We are immensely proud of these books and authors.

We hope you will like them as much as we do.

   

Download launch catalogue PDF

Read Press Release

Our first London Book Fair

It’s Hot Key’s first London Book Fair and we’ve got loads to shout about. We’ll be unveiling our sensational launch titles on Monday and announcing an exciting new project on Tuesday -  so stay tuned!

We’ll also be negotiating rights deals, meeting people in the industry, presenting to the Children’s Independent Booksellers,  speaking on the Love Learning Seminar Programme and presenting in the Innovation Zone. We will also try to find time to drink lots of coffee and catch up with our friends too!

Come and find out the secrets of how to successfully use social media to promote your books and publishing house. Our Sales and Marketing Manager, Sarah Benton, will be presenting our social media strategy in ‘Unlocking the Doors of Hot Key Books’ in the Innovation Zone from 12-12.30 on Monday and Tuesday.

Sarah Odedina will be speaking about the challenges of launching a new publishing house at the ‘New Young Adult Lists’ seminar along with Amanda Punter from Razorbill and Stella Paskins from Electric Monkey, chaired by John McLay from Bath Festival of Children’s Literature in the Westminster Room on Wednesday from 11.30-12.30.

So, make sure you drop by the Bonnier stand (A555) to have a nose through our books and find out more about our exciting news. We’ll be live tweeting and blogging from the fair too. If you would like to make an appointment with any of the Hot Key team email enquiries@hotkeybooks.com.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE MOTHERLAND

Waiting for us today was a note. A message, from The Motherland. They are launching a rocket into space. They will be the first to land on the moon.

But who can we trust a world where you can trust no-one? Who has the truth… and who hides it?

In September, we will discover the truth.

The Other Side of Bologna

A small weekly round up.

1. Bologna is over! The news from the front has been hugely exciting and we’re so glad that our amazing titles are being well received. We are glad to have the HKB team back in full force at Northburgh House though!

2. We were all absolutely astounded at the talent and genius emerging from the boys’ pen with Jan’s incredible graphic illustration.

So… Inspired by Jan and Meg, I had a go at creating my own comic charting my first experience of a book fair!  

My first Book Fair and my first go at illustration (and my first time going to work as a Tiger)…  That’s what’s so brilliant about working in publishing. Every day brings firsts, things that are new, exciting, and  a whole new challenge!

Bologna: Here and There

Today in the office it’s very QUIET. (I’m using capitals to compensate for said quietness).

The cupcakes in the kitchen are piling up.

The kettle is FULL.

It’s all very strange.

However, as quiet  as is is here, we are all super excited – today marks our first ever Bologna Book Fair as Hot Key Books! Our correspondent in the field, Kate, has been sending through some pictures of the gorgeous Bonnier stand (Hall 25, A171!)…

That’s us!

Before books (during tea break)

After books – awesome covers Jet and Jan!

GIANT Maggot Moon

GIANT A World Between Us

Good luck team, bring us back some wonderful stories! (and cheese please).

A day out for us, a day off for Clerkenwell

So today we went to Chichester (where Autumn and Bonnier are based in a gorgeous office in the countryside) for a Sales Conference.  We went through the nine launch titles (our entire schedule for 2012!) and had a great natter to the sales team (hello!).

And, in true Hot Key style, we played a video to introduce them to the whole team.

I’d like to apologise now for this…

We have books!

A big day here at Hot Key – we FINALLY have books to fill our shelves. Our new, limited-edition, collectable proofs have arrived!

Here is us staring at the big pile of boxes:

And here they are all tidy and on the shelves above my desk!

And here is the first set (with three more titles to come very soon) close up:

Our arms ache from all the stacking but we are VERY HAPPY INDEED

Judge a book by its cover?

Let’s start with a scenario: you’re at the grocery store in front of the wall of tomato sauces. Which one do you think would be the most delicious?

Before you read the ingredients or the nutritional information, you inevitably make a choice to pick up the jar that most appeals to you. You probably make that judgement call based on the label, jar size, and possibly the proximity of a given tin to your hand. Because let’s face it, you’re a human in the 21st century, and you come into contact with thousands of products that have been specifically designed to catch your eye and send you messages about the quality of the contents.

So why shouldn’t the same logic apply in the bookstore? The choices are no less daunting. There are literally millions of books to choose from! And more are coming out every day! Just walk into your local bookstore and look at the new fiction table. There are AT LEAST 30 books staring up at you. And that’s just one tiny table in a shop full of books. Maybe you look for a familiar name (see Julie Bosman’s article in the NYTimes), but I also bet you look at covers. Because again, you’re human, and you have eyes. I bet if you think really hard, you can remember a time where you picked up a book just because you thought it was pretty, and ended up buying it because the story summary on the back piqued your interest. I do it all the time, whether I’m buying physical books or clicking on the covers to download books to my Kindle.

It can’t be a coincidence that all of the books I’ve read and loved lately have  beautiful covers (see Super Sad True Love Story, Why We Broke Up, and A Monster Calls). For me, the covers of my favourite books are all tied up with the images of the characters and narrative in my brain. And honestly, what’s the point of writing a wonderful new book if you’re going to stick it in an ugly old package?

Here at Hot Key Books, I’m proud to report that the incredible designers are working their magic to make the outsides of Hot Key’s forthcoming books just as amazing as the stories inside. Need proof? Check this out:

Isn’t that gorgeous? Don’t you want to hang that on your wall? Or at the very least, read it? Stay tuned for more beautiful, amazing, and wall-worthy covers. I encourage you to judge Hot Key’s books by their covers. One look, and I bet you’ll decide to read them all.

Thank you!

A huge thank you to everyone who is helping us with our Week of Woo. There is more to come today, but we just wanted to give a special shout out to our two YouTube commenters.

That is exactly what we’re after – unconditional love. Okay, not really. But we are most definitely here to bring authors and readers together. In this particular case, in real life, if we can!

We also want to show you all how much we enjoy what we do. We are so proud to have done something to make someone say, “Why are more companies not like this?” Because we think other companies can and should be like this. Celebrate your successes, have fun, don’t be shy!

Stay tuned for a new Week of Woo vlog post… at 3pm.

Ed’s note: Just as I pressed “publish” on this post, an email landed in my inbox. Are you all getting the fantastic Trend Briefings from TrendWatching.com? Their latest summary of the mood of the market says be FLAWSOME: people respond well to companies that act human, and aren’t afraid to be transparent.

So… this is us at Hot Key Books, warts and all.