Rugby World Cup books – Speed the Essence

Fast	HarperCollins
Faster	Penguin
Fastest	Hachette

A few people in publishing couldn’t afford to celebrate our Rugby World Cup (RWC) victory on Sunday night – they had to be at work bright and early the next day.

Hachette’s first editorial team members hit their desks at 5.30am, at Penguin, some were in as early as 5am; at HarperCollins it was a 6.30am start.

There were three incomplete manuscripts in which time and effort had been invested, which urgently needed completion. Three all important cover designs to be turned around in 24 hours, or just six hours in Penguin’s case. Stress in the publishing scrum.

Penguin had the official Rugby World Cup and All Blacks souvenir Champions: Rugby World Cup 2011 All Blacks Victory to finish, with the added handicap that writer Richard Becht was overseas, touring with our league team.

Richard actually watched the final in his UK hotel room, wrote his copy immediately, then emailed the piece so work could start in New Zealand. Champions has the added feature of a pull out poster and the lowest retail price.

At HarperCollins, Bill Honeybone and his team were flat tack 

from their early start, adding further material to the manuscript they had ready and waiting, Black: where it belongs.

Hachette, ultimately first out of the starting blocks with their Cup Glory, had not planned to do a celebratory RWC book until approached by Whitcoulls.

Warren Adler, Hachette’s editorial director, had seriously considered dropping himself from their project. “I’ve been through this five times before with Rugby World Cups, and each time we’ve never had the reason to complete,” was his dry comment.

What if we hadn’t scraped home by that one point?
So would this triumvirate of RWC All Black books hit the stores if we hadn’t won? A unanimous “No,” from Bill Honeybone, Warren Adler and Penguin’s Jeff Atkinson. A book after an All Blacks loss simply wouldn’t fly. “The New Zealand public is unforgiving,” says Warren. Jeff: “We didn’t have a book until we won.”

Cup Glory
Hachette’s team for the pre dawn start included editors and designers. Their writer was Phil Gifford who started the final chapter immediately the match was over and photographs came from Rugby Images photo agency camerawomen Jo Caird and Paula George (known simply as Georgie).

Warren says they had everything to the printer, Wellington’s Printlink, late Monday morning. Whitcoulls had Cup Glory, in a format slightly deeper than an A4 and much wider, 104 pages and $19.99 It arrived in their stores on Wednesday morning. (October 26).

Later that day The Read caught up with Chris Casey, Whitcoull’s category manager books, between store visits. He was in their Botany Downs store when one woman came in and bought eight copies. Obviously a good reaction in the marketplace.

Champions: Rugby World Cup 2011 All Blacks Victory
As the only official RWC and NZRFU publishers, Penguin had an extra level of sign off after text and photographs were delivered overnight and the editing and production team steered by publisher Debra Millar got to work.

Jeff, general manager production, said that project could move so swiftly because design and production were in-house. Their visuals were sourced from Photosport headed by noted sports photographer Andrew Cornaga.

The official sign off was around midday Monday, and files went to printer PMP in Mount Wellington at about 4pm. Champions: Rugby World Cup 2011 All Blacks Victory is A4 format, 64 pages $17.99 and released this morning. (October 27)

Black: where it belongs
Bill Honeybone’s production from HarperCollins is titled Black: where it belongs “Looks pretty damn spectacular,” says the publisher. His team of Bob Howitt as writer, Dexter Fry as designer and a ‘crew that knew its rugby’ paid great attention to detail and worked a very long day, says Bill. Black photos were from Corbis and Reuters via TRANZ International.

The day ended for Bill around 2am on Tuesday as he walked up in the darkness an unfamiliar drive in Glenfield to leave a package of print ready material at the doorway of a Geon executive, so the material would reach the print company at start of business that day.

Black: where it belongs is the most in-depth book at 136 pages in a landscape format priced at $24.99 and in store Saturday October 29 for those ordering in carton lots and the following Monday for smaller orders.

Fast turnaround noted by retail book trade
The speed at which dedicated sports book publishers can turn around these books is mind blowing.

Sure, the manuscripts and layouts were completed to a certain point, but it was a gamble for the publishers concerned: nine tenths of an unpublishable book is an investment down the drain. The risk however is shared with writers and photographers receiving royalties and thus not paid until the project goes ahead.

The other eye-opener is that currently very little print book publishing is done in New Zealand, but with the quick turn around and relatively inexpensive prices for these heavily photographic books, perhaps publishers will look at using local printers more often.

As booksellers we now know that if a publisher says it takes six weeks for a straightforward novel to be reprinted and stock to arrive, it is just not necessary.

Bill Honeybone says that local printers are getting faster and more sophisticated machinery, and that the bugbear of getting good binding in this country is changing, again with new machinery which delivers a better result.

P.S: HarperCollins released news of their RWC book on October 14 with the confident statement: Will we win? Of course we will!

But Bill Honeybone actually predicted a bigger winning margin for the company sweepstake on the game. “I watched it quietly because rugby is my game. I was desperate for them to win, but that’s because I’m a fan. The book was irrelevant at match time!”