Sneak Peek: Mary Berry’s Cookery Course

Go to dk.com to find out more about the book and sign up to be notified when it goes on sale.

Follow the conversation on Twitter with #WhatWouldMaryDo

Get the latest on Facebook: facebook.com/DKUK or facebook.com/maryberrythecook

#WhatWouldMaryDo

We’re looking forward to the launch of Mary Berry’s new cookery book ’Mary Berry’s Cookery Course‘ (which you can buy on dk.com from 29 May!). Mary’s new book is all about learning the secrets to cooking success. Whether you’re an experienced cook or just starting out there is something for everyone; find out how Mary gets her roast chicken skin so crispy and how she ensures her apple pie doesn’t have a “soggy bottom”.

Next week we’ll be hosting a Twitter Q&A with Mary and filming a series of short videos where Mary will answer her favourite food questions, as submitted by her fans (you!).

Here’s how to submit a question to Mary:

- Tweet your question with the hashtag #WhatWouldMaryDo

- Log on to Facebook and add your question to one of our #WhatWouldMaryDo posts, which you can find on the DK UK fan page and the Mary Berry fan page.

- Leave a comment on this blog post

Mary will be filming her answers to your questions on Tuesday and we’ll be adding them to YouTube so that when you have a cooking question and wonder #WhatWouldMaryDo you can go online and find out.

More details about the Q&A to come! Watch this space.

May The Fourth Be With You

May the fourth be with you!

Our team in the US have come up with some great ways to celebrate Star Wars day, including giving a sneak peek inside of the Clone Wars Episode Guide on Scribd and creating a May the fourth be with you Pinterest board.

The links at the end of the episode guide are for US retailers but UK residents can purchase the full Clone Wars Episode Guide for £9.99 on dk.co.uk.

Check out facebook.com/DKstarwars for more cool Star Wars links, offers and exclusives.

Star Wars The Clone Wars Episode Guide

A tribute to Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson, the Graphic Artist behind some of the world’s most iconic album covers, sadly died aged 69, 18 April 2013, after suffering from cancer. In this article DK Publicist Vivienne Watton looks back at the time she spent working with Storm.

Storm Thorgerson – it’s not a name you forget. Which is why just over a week ago when, on the train to work, I saw it written in large type across the top of the Guardian Obit page, I did a double-take.

My own small brush with Storm was in autumn 1999 when DK published 100 Best Album Covers by the former design duo Hipgnosis – Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell. I was the Press Officer assigned to the book. It was my first big campaign. Up until that point the only books I’d been entrusted to fly solo with were The Handbook of Knots and Decorating Hints and Tips; this one was in a different league. It was by two design legends, national newspaper coverage was expected, a launch party (possibly with celebrities!) was to be held…it was in my hands.

I needn’t have worried, with authors of that pedigree and pages stuffed full of great art and the stories behind them, it was a media dream. Guardian Weekend did a big extract featuring it on their cover while other national newspapers, including the Express and The Times, also ran stories.

Guardian Weekend 100 Best Album Covers

It is still, I think, the PR campaign I am most proud of. We had a launch party in The White Room at the Metropolitan Hotel at the time when the Met Bar was still (just) the hangout of Kate Moss, Sadie Frost, Jude Law et al and Boris Becker had recently made good use of the cupboard at Nobu. I spoke to Storm and Aubrey a fair amount throughout the whole campaign and met them a few times. I was, I remember, incredibly intimidated by Storm at first. Others have commented on his gruffness, and he certainly could be a bit tricky – I think the young PR girl asking him things all the time was probably a mild irritant – but he was always an author I admired and liked, and it was a great book to cut my teeth on.

When I heard that Storm had died I went to find my copy of 100 Best Album Covers. It was signed by Storm and Aubrey, and a few of the other guests at the party – Peter Blake, Bill Wyman, one of the Beach Boys. Then I remembered it got left under the coffee table of an ex-boyfriend…but whilst searching I found a photo I didn’t know I had; Storm and Aubrey with a cake I commissioned for the launch – an amazing 3D confectionery interpretation of Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy (which was designed by Hipgnosis) with naked candy children climbing a Giant Causeway of cake. I can’t help noticing that in the photo, Storm looks characteristically grumpy even as he raises his glass.

Cheers Mr Thorgerson.

Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell

LEGO Chima(R) – The End is Nigh…

I remember from afternoon telly of yore that Dick Dastardly always over-reached himself. His plotting was always just too elaborate and he never saw the simple snags in his strategy

Suddenly, Crawley the crocodile warrior comes into focus. His fatal flaw, his ultimate downfall will be …. he never looks where he is going! Just think of all those dull rambling novels you have read, all those movies you have endured. If only the creators had made use of this cunning plot device.

Running out of pages and the deadline is looming large with an irate publisher breathing down your neck? Want to bring the movie home on schedule and on budget, the producer’s going crazy and the bank wants its money back?

Need to end the story? Have the guy trip over something – easy peasy!

Oops, ouch, THE END.

LEGO Legends of Chima Brickmaster and Ultimate Sticker Collection are out today.

 

World Book Night

‘World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading… ‘  - World Book Night

To celebrate World Book Night we are giving away a whole pile of books:

World Book Night: DK book

World Book Night: DK books

World Book Night: DK books

Including:

The LEGO Ideas Book
The Pie Book
Stitch-by-Stitch
Whisky Opus
Great Buildings
Disney Pixar Cars Character Encyclopedia
First Facts Dinosaurs
Allotment Handbook
Preserving Through The Year (Jams, Jellies, Chutneys etc.)
Story of the Titanic

We were inspired by Penguin’s World Book Night celebrations on Twitter last year, asking their followers to send in photos of their book shelves. So this year we’re doing the same!

For a chance of winning all the books above tweet a photo of your beautiful (or not so beautiful!) book shelf adding #mybookshelfROCKS – alternately you can post on Instagram adding #mybookshelfROCKS.

Here’s a pic of our bookshelf to get you started:

 

We’ll be choosing a winner at noon tomorrow (24 April 2013).

The London Book Fair 2013

Having just joined the DK Marketing team, Wednesday was my exciting first visit to the London Book Fair. The fair is an annual event held at Earl’s Court and is a chance for everyone involved in the global book trade, from publishers to eBook retailers, to network, make sales, have discussions and attend talks and seminars. I arrived at around nine, just as the fair started to fill up and headed straight to the DK stall to check out what our branded space looked like.

I thought it looked great, a crisp white setting filled with colour, just like our books.

The sets of tables and chairs are where our sales staff hold their meetings with clients in order to sell DK books across the world, in this case fuelled by Danish pastries and chocolate muffins. One of the reasons I arrived early at the fair was to take some shots of our space before it filled up.
As you can see we have all our lovely DK books on display, some such as Conquest of the Ocean, publishing in May for clients to leaf through and explore before their meetings.

This last shot below gives an impression of the sheer size of the book fair beyond the DK stall. I had a peruse of the stands of other publishers, in the adult, children’s and travel markets and then attended an interesting snapshot seminar on making marketing campaigns for books work harder. Then it was adieu to the fair for another year and back off to the office. DK will be back next year to give you more inside pictures and information on the London Book Fair.

Recommended Craft Blogs

There are so many craft blogs and websites out there that sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, so we asked our Twitter followers which blogs they recommend; here’s what they suggested:

[View the story "Recommended Craft Blogs" on Storify]

The Crafty Cow – a children’s craft collective

Meet Me At Mike’s

Mollie Makes

MollyMoo

Red Ted Art

Simple Crafts

Do you know of any other great craft blogs? Let us know by tweeting @DKbooks or leaving a comment.

Get ready for Spring: new RSPB books

Did you know that juvenile cuckoos migrate to Africa alone, with no help from their parents? Or that The Swift can cover more than 800 km (500 miles) a day when it undertakes its autumn flight?

‘Bird Watching Everything You Need To Know For Beginners’ takes you through the bird watching basics so that you can tell a Goldfinch from a Chaffinch.

In The Field – Mountains

Where to Watch – Scotland

You can find this and more RSPB books on the DK website.

The Great British Sewing Bee

After reading ‘A Little Course In…Sewing’ The Great British Sewing Bee was a must watch for the DK Marketing team. GBSB was the main topic of conversation this morning, so we thought we’d put together a couple of short reviews from members of the DK Marketing team:

“I only caught the last 20 minutes but I’ll definitely be tuning in next week. I particularly like Mark and can’t wait to see what he makes next. The Independent’s description, “Mark looks like a Judas Priest roadie”, is my quote of the week!” – Emma

“GBBO used to make me want to go bake, Sewing Bee made me want to dig out my sewing machine and get creating again. I used to make loads of my own clothes now I’m getting inspired to make stuff for my daughters; I liked Lauren – she wasn’t focused on much in episode one…I liked her style and I reckon she’ll be one to watch.” – Viv

If you missed the first episode of GBSB you can catch up on BBC iplayer.

On the subject of sewing here are some photos of the ’Learn to sew in 10 minutes’ pull out in The Times today:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

If you find the guide helpful then check out ‘A Little Course In…Sewing‘ on the DK website.