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Peter Mayer - Turning around Penguin's fortunes (79/99)

33 views · Published 22 August 2017 · 2:46 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: Web of Stories - Life Stories of Remarkable People · 2017 · Entertainment

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British-born Peter Mayer (1936-2018) was an independent American publisher who, as head of the New York-based Avon Books, successfully introduced the trade paperback to the mass market. From 1978 to 1996, he was CEO of Penguin Books. [Listener: Christopher Sykes; date recorded: September 2014-January 2015]

TRANSCRIPT: The first book that was published under this different policy was 'The Far Pavilions'.  And somebody said, well, were are we going to get £50,000 from?  So I said, from the author.  From the author?  I said, yes, from the author - what's her royalty?  So somebody told me it was 10%, let us say, for the paperback.  I said, well, we give her 7.5%.  But that's not fair, others said. I said, "Well, it all depends what you mean by fair.  What if we sell so many copies of her book that, despite the reduction in her royalty, she winds up with more money?" They said, "Well, can you guarantee that?" I said, "No, but I can believe in it, and we can work toward it".  Well, how will we do that?  I said, well, we'll double the retail price of the book.  You mean, instead of £1.25, it will be £2.50?  I said, absolutely.  And so, her 7.5% will be 7.5% of £2.50.  That's a lot better than 10% of £1.95, isn't it?

Well, people were dumbfounded by this.  We can't do this this unilaterally.  You'll have to get her approval to reduce her royalty.  I said, I'll do that.  Who's her agent?  They told me the agent was, I think, Jacqueline Korn.  So I said, well, I'll have lunch with her.

Well, Jacqueline Korn says, you can't do that.  You can't reduce… she's a bestseller… you can't reduce her royalty.  I said, I can, because, if we keep her royalty the way it is, we'll [only] spend £5,000 on the book.  But if you do what I say, we'll spend £50,000 on the book.  And Jacqueline Korn says, where can I sign?

So, we reduced Molly Kaye's royalty from, I think it was from 10% to 7.5%.  We doubled the retail price of the book.  We agreed, I think, also, as part of the… getting Molly to lower her royalty, to print twice as many copies as we otherwise would have.  And we did the book in B format, a larger format, to make it look like it was worth £2.50 instead of £1.25.

So, all of these things were put together. The author and agent agreed.  And we sold, in the first year, I think, 400,000 copies.  And Penguin was off and running.  Molly Kaye loved us.  The agent loved us.  Everybody in British publishing knew what we had done.  And we were off and running.

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