Our Blog

While those of you who are attending BEA this year might snag a poster of our special, ten-year anniversary timeline, we wanted to make sure we shared this with all of you.

So here it is. A History of Quirk Books.

Our lovely timeline (designed by our fabulous Andie Reid) touches on a little bit of everything, from Dave Borgenicht's publishing life pre-Quirk with The Worst-Case-Scenario Survival Handbook to our distribution partnership with Random House, from our first season with the Action Hero's Handbook to the publication of our New York Times bestselling mashups and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Award winning book trailers and awkward family photos, piles of cat hair and movie deals… it has been one wild ride.

Read on to scope out our timeline. Enjoy!

BEA is almost here and as you might have seen in this earlier post, we are really excited. And we want to give you a chance to take home some special swag from the Quirk Books prize patrol.

Just email [email protected] to get this special BEA tote bag mailed to you before you leave for BEA. We hope you’ll bring your bag to BEA as a sign of your continued support, a way to carry home all the awesome swag you pick up, and—most important—an opportunity to win stuff! Members of our staff will be walking the show floor of the Javits Center and giving away prizes to attendees carrying this tote.

Once again, Quirk Books is truly grateful for the support you have given us over the past ten years. Your enthusiasm for our books has been a key part of our success.  Supplies are limited.  If you don’t get a bag before BEA, you can pick one up at our booth (#3848). We have lots of exciting books for Fall 2012 to tell you about, along with great giveaways.  Come say hi!

Again, thank you! We look forward to seeing you at BEA and continuing to work with you in the years to come. Check out the full size Books Are… image below!

Book Expo America is almost here, and we are psyched! We love this time of year. We get to spend several lovely days meeting bloggers, press, authors, and other publishing professionals. What could be better? This year, you’ll be able to find us at Booth #3848 and we’ve got a lot planned for you bookish guys and gals.

Since we’re celebrating our ten year anniversary, we’ll be giving out a bunch of special posters and totebags commorating that fact. We’re also bringing an amazing poster of The Last Policeman and lenticular Lovecraft Middle School postcards. If you grab one of our totebags, make sure you keep it on you! Our BEA Prize Patrol will be prowling the expo floor, dishing out bookish prizes to attendees we catch displaying their love of Quirk.

And speaking of Lovecraft Middle School, series editor Jason Rekulak will be on the BEA Book Buzz panel, talking about Lovecraft Middle School: Professor Gargoyle, the first installment in the series

Fans of Ben H. Winters will be psyched to learn that we’re bringing the New York Times bestselling, Edgar Award nominated author with us to BEA again this year. Last year, Ben was signing copies of Bedbugs. This time around, he’ll be signing copies of The Last Policeman. Swing by the Quirk booth on Wednesday from 10am to 11am, to nab free autographed ARCs and posters from Ben.

The fun doesn’t stop at BEA. We’ve also teamed up with a bunch of our publishing industries BFFs to throw a big ol’ party at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Wednesday, June 6th. And you’re invited! Come to PubDate 2012 to hang out with us, DC Entertainment, Graywolf Press, Other Press, Pegasus Books, Seven Stories, and Steerforth Press in a celebration of books, authors, and publishing.

There will be hors d’oeuvres and an open bar (wine and beer) until 10pm, with cocktails available for purchase. Make sure you RSVP on Facebook. It’s not required, but it is appreciated.

You’ll be able to meet the fabulous Stacy Adimando (The Cookiepedia) and Thomas J. Craughwell (Thomas Jefferson’s Creme Brulee). For a full list of other authors who will be attandance, visit the event’s page on Facebook.

Get excited! We are. And we can’t wait to see you there!

The first Lovecraft Middle School book by Charles Gilman, Professor Gargoyle, hits stores everywhere this September and we sure are excited. The second title comes out in January, and Charles is already hard at work on the third in the series.

And speaking of that third book, we're looking for a model for the cover! Here's the casting notice, straight from our Art Director, Doogie Horner:

* Quirk Books is looking for a cover model for one of our books.
* Model Description: Young boy, 11-13 years old. Should look like the archetypal teacher's pet. Round-face, chubby cheeks, wholesome looking. Preferably blonde hair and big blue eyes.
* We're shooting May 23rd at a studio in Philadelphia. Should take about 4 hours. Pay is $150.
* Please send headshots to [email protected] and write Monster Middle School in the subject line of your email.

Know someone? Forward this to them! Thanks!

I suppose when you’ve written one absolutely perfect book, you don’t have much more you need to say. This Sunday marks Harper Lee’s 86th birthday, a gal who wrote a brilliant classic (To Kill a Mockingbird) and never wrote a second novel.

So in honor of her birthday, I’ve pooled together my five favorite books by women writers who, like Harper Lee, I wish wrote more.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28, 1926, this Alabama lady stuck to her roots while writing this Southern Gothic novel. Much like the characters of Scout and Dill, Harper and childhood friend Truman Capote used to discover items left in the hollow of their favorite tree. Over 50 years later, this 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel remains a bestseller with over 30 million copies in print.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: Originally published as a two volumes in a three volume set (the third volume was Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte), this novel was often condemned for the amoral passion portrayed in its pages.

In 1850, Charlotte Bronte posthumously edited and published her sister’s novel under the author’s real name. Prior to that, Wuthering Heights was published under the nom de plume “Ellis Bell.”

Happy birthday, Will!

Shakespeare turns 448 years old today. What better way to celebrate the Bard’s birth than with one of these excellent books?