Page Created: 06/22/11. Last Update: 06/24/14.
LAUREN PANEPINTO
Laruen Panepinto is the Creative Director for Orbit Books and Yen Press, as well as being an artist in her own right.
Links:
..........Lauren Panepinto Official Site:
http://www.laurenpanepinto.com/
..........Lauren Panepinto @ Orbit Books
http://www.orbitbooks.net/author/lauren-panepinto/
..........Orbit Books Website
..........Yen Press Website
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: November 12, 2011.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River.
Official Attendance: 20.
Meeting Program: Talk, Q & A with Book Publisher Art Director.
Notes:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2011 Philip J De Parto:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County met at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center on Saturday, November 12, 2011. Art Director Lauren Panepinto of Orbit Books and Yen Press was the featured speaker.
The evening began with a screening of episodes of MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH by Justin Moy of the North Jersey Anime and Manga Meetup. Justin was joined by several other members of the Anime group as well as members of the Association for the videos.
Only a handful of people attended the Ice Nine pre meeting discussion. The discussion primarily focused on movies old and new (ABYSS, THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, PUSS 'N BOOTS) with a smattering of books and television shows thrown in.
Lauren Panepinto described herself as a classic science fiction fan girl. One of her first jobs was working in a New York comic book store while attending The School for Visual Arts. After she got her degree, she was hired by St Martins Press as a Junior Designer. She later worked as a Designer and an Art Director at Doubleday and at Random House. All these positions were outside the science fiction genre, but she networked and got to know the sf people at various companies. The networking culminated in a frenetic 72 hour period in which she was hired and fired by one publisher and then hired by Orbit.
Orbit Books and Yen Press are different imprints of the same company, and both imprints are staffed by the same people. Orbit is for science fiction and fantasy. Yen is for works of manga. The two imprints are marketed differently and present different opportunities and challenges.
Yen is the second largest publisher of manga in the United States. Most works are adaptations of titles from Japan, but the company also produces original manga works. Adaptations are translated by the editors. The books read left-to-right like American books, as opposed to the right-to-left Japanese format.
Yen Press divides the year into two publishing seasons. Each season presents 45 - 50 titles. Among the titles which have been big sellers are BLACK BUTLER (licensed), INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE by Anne Rice (original), TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer (original) and James Patterson's Maximum Overdrive series (original). Piracy is more of a concern for Yen titles than for Orbit.
Orbit USA functions as a small company within an international colossus. Our speaker referred to the operation as guerrilla publishing. The group occupies a small physical space. Everyone hears each other talking all day long. Cover meetings include everyone in the office, both editorial and art. Even the sales staff are geeks.
Evolving technologies are having many repercussions with in the industry. Orbit now publishes short fiction e-books (but only from existing Orbit authors). Mass market book sales are being cannibalized by electronic books, and the company is experimenting with enhanced feature e-books. Some deals alter the formula of advances vs royalties to writers. Authors who have a social media network and plan are more desirable because those who blog, use twitter and do virtual tours, are generally more successful than those who do not.
Some of these changes have raised the profile of the digital design team. Covers are tested to be certain that they will still be effective when reduced to the size utilized at Amazon. Wallpaper and apps are part of the marketing plan for some title. On the down side, the company has recently hired someone to go after people who have posted unauthorized digital copies of work and to take them down.
Ms Panepinto solicits input from the writers of the books and sends cover sketches to the author for comment. Some writers have strong opinions. Greg Bear, for instance, did not want the cover to give away too much about the book.
Our guest talked about the wide range of cover approaches she has employed, from the photographs of the Germline series, to the optical illusion covers of Simon Morden's Petrovich series, to the movie-poster-like covers for Joe Abercrombie. It was a fun, informative and delightful presentation.