The Hindu Business Line : `Naked' books from Penguin

The leading publisher now has `six books that are ready to go into the shops', informs http://thepenguinblog.typepad.com, through a post dated November 23 by Helen Conford, Senior Commissioning Editor at The Penguin Press.

"The covers are art-quality paper, and from internal Penguin efforts we know that they hold ink, paint, pencil and glue," she writes. Each book `comes shrink-wrapped so the paper doesn't get dirty', and the company hopes `people might give them as gifts'. Results of in-house experimental runs, including a design by `five-year-old daughter' of the company's MD, have been put up as a picture gallery on www.penguin.co.uk.

"According to consumer research, when we decide whether or not to buy a book, cover design is always the most important thing. Despite this, we'd like to introduce you to a new series of books called My Penguin," reads the contrarian thinking on the site, promoting `Books by the greats, covers by you'.

The six books that form the first lot in the new series are: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Magic Tales by The Brothers Grimm, The Waves by Virginia Woolf, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and Emma by Jane Austen. All with `naked front covers'.

Penguin invites readers `to be involved' and to have a good time coming up with covers. "We hope you'll be inspired, and we'd love you to send us a picture of your finished work for us to feature in our gallery," invites the site.