Our lovely, popular authors, artists Terry Harrison and Fiona Peart, were married on Saturday 29th January and all of us here wish them happiness and joy. They are two very special, talented people and we are delighted that they are together, and working on more books with us. We are looking forward to seeing them when they return from their honeymoon.

Love to you both from all of us.

X

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Which one has the real moustache? Ill give you a clue, it's not the dog. Yes, it's all gone Pete Tash at Search Press headquarters as members of staff have literally sprouted moustaches in aid of Movember and their fellow comrades in hair. Movember is a prostate and testicular cancer charity which promotes-nay-encourages the growth of a top lip accessory during the month of November. All this to promote men's health and to understand the cancers that can afflict the male of our species 'down below' a subject which men find difficult to discuss or seek help for. Martin 'Wing-Commander' De La Bedoyere, Jeff 'Biggles' Boatwright  and Juan 'Ai Caramba' Hayward are the real tash growers at the moment itching their way to a handy amount of donations so far. Their Mo Sista Sophie 'Up-and-at-Them' Kersey is not growing a moustache but is an honorary member of the team which is called 'Tashablanca' (dont ask!) which you can find on the Movember website. If you would like to donate then follow the link to the Movember website and follow the instruction. Chocs away!

http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1054196/

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Search Press Celebrates 40^th Anniversary on Friday 9^th July at their Meet the Artists Day

The buntings and banners were out, the hog roast was at the ready and bartenders were poised for action. They came in their droves, artists, retailers, wholesalers, art and craft media, competition winners, Search Press friends, former employees and crowded in to help Search Press celebrate its 40^th year in art and craft publishing.

Search Press staff assumed their new roles as car park attendants, canapé servers, bartenders and meet and greeters...they all took to their jobs with gusto and, as one visitor commented, the informal ease and grace by which they all worked belied the meticulous planning that went on behind the scenes for months on end.

Author artists, some meeting for the first time, chatted and joked in friendly banter. Others, having admired each others work from afar swapped their favourite funny demo stories and vowed to keep in touch. Long term authors passed tips to new author recruits, and everyone mingled at leisure or gathered to see whatever artist's demonstration took their fancy.

As the day rolled on, aided by the flowing champagne, delicious hog roast and afternoon celebratory cupcakes the question on many lips was "Where's Lotti? She really should be here" (Lotti being Countess Charlotte de la Bedoyere the Search Press founder and mother of the present MD Martin). Just as no one would have been surprised if "We want Lotti" chants had broken out, in she strolled, true to form, a couple of hours late in her best T-shirt and trackie bottoms with her Leonberger, Simba, following behind (thank goodness the hog roast had already been demolished) wondering what all the fuss was about. Everyone was delighted to see her, and as she wandered around she brushed off, in true Lotti style, the congratulations she received on her astute vision back in 1970 when Search Press came into being in a London attic with a few borrowed pounds in her pocket. 

The company's sustained success is due to her son, Martin's, determination to succeed, tempered in no small way by his desire to also have fun on the way and to make sure that everyone enjoys what they do. He has definitely inherited his Mother's unique talent for doing things his way without being influenced or confined by corporate blueprints or ideals for success. It clearly works as he was delighted to announce a 15% increase on the previous year and the new dizzy height of 5.75 million turnover had just been reached for the first time in the company's history.

There was nothing but praise and positive feedback on the day from authors and customers alike, but as always, in true Search Press style, there were some fun surprises too. Phil from the warehouse confessed his passion for fantasy art, Stephen King and tattoos only to discover that Paul Bryn Davies designed covers for Stephen King, making Phil the happiest man alive. But it didn't stop there - Paul went on to offer to custom design Phil's next tattoo, by which time Phil moved up to Cloud 9 and is still floating around up there somewhere.

As the visitors slowly drifted away all the staff collapsed in a tired but very happy, heap, trying hard to ignore the calls of "Let's do it all again next year" that were ringing in their ears. Not everyone was welcome on the day, mind you, and it was with a sense of relief that the snakes discovered in the compost bin the day before decided that the celebration day was not quite their scene.

A very enjoyable and successful day for everyone.

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We are all so happy and thrilled – because we have won The Best Craft Book Publisher award! Fantastic. It's the second time in three years that we have won this award. Everyone here has contributed to our success and everything we do, apart from the printing of our own books, is done here, in our friendly, open plan office. We anticipate trends, commission authors, edit and design the books, publicise them, then they are delivered to our warehouse downstairs and from there they are sent to wherever our customers want them to be sent. With over 1,500 published titles - a portion of these we distribute for other publishers, and with over 100 forthcoming titles, the work is varied, interesting and fun.

We would like to thank our customers for voting for us....

 Thank you  x

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We are thrilled to have won the Independent Publishing Nielsen Innovation award for our groundbreaking, hugely successful series: the Ready to Paints. Despite difficult and challenging market conditions, we decided to follow Leonardo da Vinci's advice: ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'. Combining traced outlines with photographic step-by-step demonstrations by leading artists, we have come up with a winning combination that helps aspiring artists over the often intimidating leap from blank paper to a finished painting. Using the traced outlines and transferring them on to the painting surface actually helps them to learn drawing skills and the clear, detailed expert tuition further boosts their confidence. 

The Independent Publishing Awards are organised by the Independent Publishers Guild, running with The Bookseller and The London Book Fair. There were 12 winners of various categories.  Following the presentation of the awards to the winners the weekend, Bridget Shine, Executive Director of the IPG, said:

"Congratulations to our fourth set of very worthy Independent Publishing Award winners. Even after such a challenging year in the publishing industry, the level of competition for the awards was as high as ever, and we are grateful to our judges for their careful and professional deliberations. These winners represent the very best of independent publishing, and show just how varied, dynamic and successful independents can be."

Here are the judges comments about us:

Arts and crafts specialist Search Press received this award for a new series of art instruction books helping painters to trace base images on to paper. Judges were impressed by the books' production, sales and coedition interest. "This is a genuine product innovation that shows how Search Press has thought creatively about its business." The judges also liked the evidence of the company's in-depth knowledge of its niche market, which it has been serving for 40 years. "Innovation doesn't just have to be about technology," they pointed out. "This is a beautifully executed and very high quality product."

Well done everyone at Search Press!

Roz

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