Essential Works

Another day, another champagne reception

We’ve been a part of the Newspaper Marketing Agency’s prestigious Awards for National Newspaper Advertising for five glamorous years now, producing the oversized hardback book that is presented to attendees at the annual award ceremony. The latest crop of winners was announced at last night’s event, held at the Mall Galleries in the heart of central London and hosted by comedian Rob Brydon.

The awards – ANNAs for short (as Brydon pointed out, “it’s easier”) – have become a firm fixture of the advertising calendar. There’s an impressive £55,000 prize fund for the best newspaper ads in a range of categories, plus another £10,000 for the best online campaign on national newspaper websites. This year’s overall winner went to agency Wieden + Kennedy’s for their Honda campaign, with further prizes going to the likes of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (for ITV), Publicis (for CWDC/COI), and Leagas Delaney (for Nationwide). Wieden + Kennedy also picked up the Creative Media Partnership Award for their Lurpak ad, while the online award went to Agency Republic and iLevel for their anti-smoking ads for the Department of Health. Take a look at all the winners and nominees on the ANNAs website.

This year’s event had an Indian theme, with winners showered in bright red petals before withdrawing to an incredible oriental tent (created by our friends at Parker Harris) to watch the rest of the event over a(nother) glass of champagne and an intriguing platter of quail eggs.

The annual itself was presented to visitors as they left the gallery. Shinier than an Apple iPad, this year’s book is bound in a shimmering, gold fabric that matched the event decor perfectly. Inside, it shows all the winning and nominated artwork at full size. Working closely with both the NMA and the talented folk over at SomeOne, we coordinate the entire editorial, production and print process. It’s a great opportunity for us to show just how special a book can be, and for the client the annual is a truly special, lasting record of each year’s ANNAs. As the years go on, our growing collection of annuals is turning into an interesting history of modern advertising, and we’ve already started work on next year’s book.

But that’s a little while ahead. In the mean time, we’re still reveling in the fun of last night’s party. Here’s a few pictures – there are more over on the ANNAs website.

The event was packed, and winning ads were displayed around the gallery walls.

Uncle Bryn, our hilarious host.

These days, we only go to parties with live bands.

The awards that everyone wanted to win.

More champagne anyone?

Cross Country Murder Song - read it first on Kindle

If, like us, you’re looking forward to seeing finished copies of Cross Country Murder Song – the new novel by broadcaster and Essential author Phil Wilding – then there’s still over a month to wait before books arrive in stores. Owners of Amazon’s Kindle in the UK can start reading right now though, as the e-Book version is already on sale.

Wilding’s much-anticipated novel, which will be published by Jonathan Cape in February, has been chosen to be made available for Kindle before it’s available in print. With the Kindle having now appeared outside of the US, it’s yet another sign of the rise and rise of the digital book.

The Cross Country Murder Song e-Book is available in Kindle form from Amazon.com.

Word, lots of swearwords

Further to his Today programme bleepfest Pete Silverton has now  joined Mark Ellen and David Hepworth to light up Word magazine’s latest podcast. Here’s what they say about it:

Pete Silverton’s Filthy English is sub-titled “the how, why, when and what of everyday swearing”. He joined us in the pod to talk, in wholly unexpurgated fashion, about the history, culture and - let’s face it - humour of swearing. We’ve covered the derivation of the word testicles, the things that made Shakespeare’s audience snigger, the contrasting swearing habits of Catholic and Protestant countries, the key turning points in the history of swearing on TV, what Nick Cave said when he was told not to and how The Wire made poetry out of that four syllable epithet.

The podcast is available to stream from Word magazine or via iTunes.

First copies of the new Lifting Shadows arrive

Today marks the end of the pre-order period for the updated edition of Lifting Shadows, our latest direct-to-consumer book project. The big deadline coincided with the arrival of the first copies of the book from the printer. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to tear open the box and have a look inside – an experience we’ve been sharing via YouTube, twitvid, and the project website liftingshadows.com.

Lifting Shadows is the fully revised and updated edition of Rich Wilson’s acclaimed biography of prog rock superheroes, Dream Theater. The original Box Set Edition, also a direct project, was published by Essential back in 2007. This time, we’ve adding a massive 40% update to the text, and giving the band’s fans the choice between two different editions – the Classic Edition we unwrapped today, or a luxury, Limited Edition bound in real leather and signed by Rich himself. We’ll be unwrapping the latter shortly, but in the mean time, take a look at it’s rather splendid stablemate.

Are we doomed?

Pop into your favourite bookshop, and you’ll find the shelves straining under the weight of publications covering the most bewildering array of fact and fiction. Here at Essential, some of our most recent projects have taken in topics as diverse as the biography of one of the world’s biggest prog rock bands, the quest to look good naked, and the (slightly loftier) pursuit of world peace. It all seems a long way from the Gutenberg Bible, yet the physical form of the book has hardly changed. And while the longevity of the printed book is arguably cause for celebration - a testament to its enduring utility and unique, tangible charm - publishers are increasingly finding themselves struggling to keep pace with the extraordinary technological progress embraced by a new generation of iPhone-touting, Facebook-checking consumers.

The black and white authority of the printed page is now set against the immediacy of the flickering screen, a media landscape in which everyone has a voice and popularity is the dominant arbitrator of quality. Publishers face change so fundamental that almost every stage of the well-trodden publishing path is called into question - not just the technicalities of book production, but also issues like how to find authors, how to pay them, how to connect with their readers, and - crucially - how to sustain a profitable enterprise.

These are just some of the questions likely to tax the panelists at a forthcoming event in Cambridge, arrestingly entitled Is the publishing industry doomed? It’s hosted by CaMedia, a society for the university town’s creative and media types, and takes place on 12th November. Speakers include Cambridge University Press publisher Andrew Winnard, Running Head director David Williams, Patients Know Best Chief Technical Officer Dawson King (formely of Bob Geldof’s Ten Alps), and Essential’s own Publishing Director, Mal Peachey. For full details, see the CaMedia website.

A f**king good morning to you

The BBC has recently been forced to move their ‘watershed’ barriers back an hour, making it impossible for anyone to talk bollocks (and especially fucking bollocks) on Aunty’s airwaves until after 10pm. How does one circumvent this unnatural state of affairs? By writing a book titled Filthy English and getting John Humphrys to engage with it - bleeps and all - before 8 am on Radio 4’s Today programme.

Which is precisely what Essential author Pete Silverton has pulled off, going by the sound of his satisfying and apposite one-word example of how ineffably effective the word can sometimes be: “clusterfuck” - the grounds on which a Liverpudlian friend turned down a top job at the Olympics, believing it would be just that. Hard to beat for verbal gumption.

The subtext to all those bleeps is this: language is organic and so are swear words. As Silverton points out, our parents’ generation used “bloody” and bugger” but never the F-word. While our grandparents who resorted to “damned” were outraged by “bloody” - fixed forever in our minds by that Shavian moment when Eliza Doolittle erupts with “Not bloody likely!” - a term that had never before been uttered at His Majesty’s Theatre. “Damned” once had strong religious connotations that simply no longer held.

Completely free of Whitehall-washing “meeting of targets”, ”rigorous standards” and “stimulus”, Humphrys and Silverton’s unblinking, prime-time examination of filth came as a gust of fresh air.

You can listen to the full Silverton-Humphrys encounter on the BBC website. There’s also a glowing review of Filthy English in The Observer.

New Dream Theater book available to pre-order

Today we’re excited to unveil details of two new editions of Lifting Shadows, Rich Wilson’s acclaimed authorised biography of  American prog metal band Dream Theater.

The new Lifting Shadows builds on the phenomenal success of Rich’s original book, which we published back in 2007. Some 40% longer than the original, the  new book has been completely revised and updated. It includes the full story of Dream Theater’s new hit album Black Clouds & Silver Linings as well an extensive appendix detailing the band member’s various side projects. There are two versions to choose from: the Classic Edition is a traditional hardback, while the Limited Edition is a collectible leather-bound volume signed by the author.

Like the original, the two new editions are exclusively available online. Publication is expected to be by the end of November, but you can pre-order your copy now. There’s a 15% discount on the Classic Edition for orders placed in the pre-order phase, rising to 25% for owners of the original Box Set Edition. Visit liftingshadows.com for full details or follow on Twitter and Facebook.

The new Lifting Shadows website

Essential get fit with the Army - it’s official

We’re seeing some ecstatic reviews on Amazon from happy purchasers of the Official British Army Fitness Guide, which we produced for Guardian Books and the British Army with no-nonsense fitness journalist and marathon runner Sam Murphy.

“The best fitness book I have ever purchased,” says one review, and others echo this sentiment. Seems like, when it comes to fitness, readers want a no-frills, back to basics exercise book that it easy to follow and gets results. And this is that book. “Buy it, use it, get fit” says Mr McNicholas. Off for a quick run now.

The Sound I Saw, Album Covers

There’s a constant and, frankly, rather wearing hum from the Essential scanner once again, as we’re hard at work on a new book of album covers.

The book, due to be published by Sterling Publishing later this year, showcases nearly 400 examples of music’s best LP covers – chosen not for the popularity of their content, but for the quality of the sleeve artwork. Many of the entries show both the front and back of the album covers, and there are also full gatefolds.

In our iTuned times, the book is a great reminder of the fantastic creative space album covers once provided – and we, along with authors authors Johnny Morgan and Ben Wardle, have really enjoyed thumbing through the originals. It also has to be said that on occasion artists and their long-suffering designers did not make the best of what the format had to offer.

So here’s a small selection. Some we like, some we… don’t. Guess which is which!

May Pang at the White Feather: Spirit of Lennon opening

Rare photos of John Lennon by Essential author May Pang are currently on show in Liverpool. The exhibition, entitled White Feather: The Spirit of Lennon, has been put together by Lennon’s first wife Cynthia and son Julian and it provides a uniquely intimate insight into the life of the Lennon family .

May Pang (right) with John Lennon's first wife Cynthia (left) and son Julian (middle).

May Pang’s images, taken from her book Instamatic Karma, look great blown up large – as May’s snaps from her trip to Liverpool for the exhibition opening (below) show. Each picture has been reproduced at a massive 20″ × 30″ (roughly 50cm × 75cm).

As readers of the book will know, May Pang was Yoko Ono’s assistant. Instructed to keep John happy, Pang developed a very close relationship with the Beatles star. Her photographs capture him in locations from New York to Los Angeles and the Nevada desert, with friends including Harry Nilsson, Elton John, and Ringo Starr. There are also charming images of Lennon playing with the young Julian.

White Feather: Spirit of London is on at the Beatles Story Pier Head, within Liverpool’s sparkling new Mersey Ferries terminal. The show runs until the end of December. For full details, see the exhibition website. For more of May’s pictures, see her MySpace page or browse prints available for purchase.

Where May goes, her camera follows. Here she is at the family home of original Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe.