Thursday, September 20, 2007
The Special One

I woke up today to find my neighbourhood in mourning at the departure of Jose Mourinho as manager of our local soccer club, Chelsea FC. He's been the most admired (and fancied, I suspect) member of the Chelsea set-up. It'll be interesting to watch the team's fortunes without his leadership. I fear the worst but meanwhile enjoy this clip.

And now to the other championship race, the competition to predict the order by sales value of the Pan Macmillan top ten new titles this Autumn. Entries are still coming in on the original posting. The cut-off date for entrants is the end of this month, so get to work and encourage your friends to join in. So far, analysis shows that people are more confident about picking the least likely to succeed than the most likely. Rhett Butler's People just pipped Musicophilia at the bottom of the table. The only other title picked for tenth position was Cristiano Ronaldo's Moments but it was also put in first position by the same number of people. Number one spot is occupied by Borat but seven of the ten titles have also been nominated. The only title which has not been nominated at either number one or number ten is Ronnie Wood which, arguably, is the one most likely to be a runaway success...or not.

What will be Pan Macmillan's Special One?

#    |  Comments [3]  | 
9/20/2007 12:02:38 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Richard, you ask, "What will be Pan Macmillan's Special One?"

Jose Spills the Vodka....if of course you can get it published in time.
Richard Havers
9/21/2007 7:20:12 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Interesting that the severance redundancy pay alleged to being paid to Jose Mourinho would be sufficient to purchase all 70 Borders UK stores (at least if the figures offered in the trade press are to be believed) : something is wrong somewhere in 21st century values.
Clive Keeble
9/25/2007 12:01:06 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
Richard, your contest reminds me of another football-related challenge that some of your current Palgrave staff may remember; Fantasy Publishing. No, its not an exercise in pretending to publish great books. Instead, given a starting investment budget you choose a publishing portfolio from a pre-defined range of titles, all individually priced based on past or expected performance. Just like a football manager building their squad, you are required to buy a specific number of titles, and must choose a mix of different book types. You then sit back and watch the weekly performance of your 'players'. Transfers are allowed at specific points through the season, and returns are factored in as and when they occur (causing much consternation!).

Its a great way to get all staff (whatever their level or function) interested in actual sales of books, and makes people more aware of the success (or otherwise) of lists that they don't work on. In a rival (rather large) educational publisher, I've even seen the game prompt editorial staff to work harder to help achieve sales of their own titles.

At Palgrave, the biggest dilemma for most entrants turned out to be the question of whether to invest in one 'galactico' (the Study Skills Handbook) or to balance investments across a range of old favourites. Those who trusted the academic equivalents of Emile Heskey and Nwankwo Kanu won the competition. Sadly the astute winner now works for one or your competitors.
Anna Faherty