Welcome

When I was asked to join Spiegel & Grau as Director of Marketing in the spring of 2006, I had been at Penguin (and had worked with Julie and Cindy at Riverhead) for nearly nine years. Admittedly I was ready for a change. But did I really want to uproot everything, leave my friends behind, and be the new dork all over again? And with all the inherent uncertainties of a start-up to boot? I certainly was comfortable where I was. Maybe too comfortable. And a bit bored. And perhaps a little disgruntled. The question quickly mutated from “Why?” to “How could I not?” So I took the leap. And I’ve never been happier.

Aside from dreaming about opening a waterfront café with my husband in our retirement, helping to shape a brand new company is not something I ever anticipated being a part of. To have the that start-up situated within the framework of a powerhouse like Random House—and the amazingly expert and adroit Doubleday Broadway group in particular—is a real luxury. With a list that is so manageable in size, I am able to take part in the publishing decisions about our books from the very beginning of the process and to contribute to each and every one of them along the way. Add to this the chance to work closely again with people whose taste and instincts I admire, and I can describe my position only as once-in-a-lifetime.

As for ever having been even the slightest bit nervous that this thing wouldn’t get off the ground, I am happy to report that the fifty or so books that S&G has under contract thus far are so impressive—intelligent, insightful, and fun—and I eagerly await the opportunity to share each of them with you. I’ve even made a few new friends—ones who, though my children may beg to differ, make me feel like less of a dork every day.

One part of my job that has been particularly fun and rewarding was helping to craft this Web site. All of us at S&G wanted to create an environment in which we could reach out to our readers and colleagues, one that provides more insight into our books and affords the opportunity to get to know our authors a bit better. When I look at the content we have up for the month of December, I feel like we are accomplishing just what we set out to do.

In FIRST PERSON, we hear from Adam Mansbach, author of The End of the Jews, which comes out next month. In this intimate and thoughtful piece, Adam shares with us what it means to be a part of a family as he anticipates the publication of his novel about family.

In MULTIMEDIA this month we have a video featuring Suze Orman. After its impressive debut in early 2007, Women & Money has just landed back on the New York Times bestseller list, continuing the juggernaut of the book Suze calls her most important yet.

This month’s READING LIST comes to you from Karen Connelly. S&G is proud to be the paperback publisher of The Lizard Cage, which was published by Nan A. Talese in hardcover. Though it received rave reviews and won the prestigious Orange Broadband Award for New Writers, hardcover sales were modest. We relish the opportunity to reinvent this book in paperback at a time when political unrest in Burma is making front page news. Given Karen’s wisdom, empathy, and love for the written word, it is no surprise that her list is as inspiring as it is insightful.

The December DISPATCH is filed by Jessica Queller, author of the forthcoming memoir Pretty Is What Changes and writer/producer of the CW’s latest hit TV series Gossip Girl. We had intended for Jessica to send her far-flung correspondence from the writer’s room on the set of Gossip Girl. As it turns out, she comes to us instead from the picket line. In this piece—as in Pretty Is What Changes—we see first-hand how Jessica is a true survivor who can handle anything that is thrown her way.

And in the Contact Us section, check out the December ROUNDTABLE where the more junior members of the S&G team talk about what it’s like to break into the publishing industry.

Thank you for visiting our site. I hope you enjoy what you see here and I invite you to sign up for our newsletter so we can stay in touch about any new developments at S&G. I welcome your feedback, so please feel free to reach out to me at any time at mwalker@spiegelandgrau.com or at spiegelandgraumarketing
@randomhouse.com.

Yours truly,
Meghan Walker