Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith, by Marian Lizzi:

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Amid the doom and gloom of a global economic crisis, it's nice to be able to share a little good news every now and then. We at Perigee are celebrating a milestone: We now have a whopping 200,000 copies in print of a fun little book called Wreck this Journal, which we first published in June 2007.

There are lots of reasons the book is such an underground hit. It's boldly original, it's got a great package with hand-lettered text throughout, and it encourages readers to draw, color, doodle, mark up, and personalize every page. The book's editor, Perigee Senior Editor Meg Leder, has lavished the book with her signature close attention and creative sense of play throughout. And of course we have a great sales team that keeps the book front and center in the marketplace (thank you, sales team!).

But there's another reason the book is such an ongoing success, in my opinion: its crossover appeal. In an age of segmented markets, it's rare to publish a book that appeals to men and women, adults and kids, skeptical tweens and their parents alike. The book sells in Hot Topics (for the non-Goths out there, that's a mall store with a paint-it-black vibe), as well as in the creativity section at B&N, the kids' section at Borders, and in independents, museum stores, and elsewhere. Our publisher, John Duff, keeps a dog-earred copy on his desk, as does my best friend's ornery ten-year-old.

Maybe that's the lesson of this particular success story: Perhaps it's worth thinking about what our readers have in common, rather than what segments them into disparate markets. And maybe, in these tough times, the fun of putting pencil or fountain pen or crayon to paper -- of expressing ourselves, of making something our own -- is a simple pleasure we could all use a little more of.

Check out the author's web site here: www.kerismith.com

Posted by: Marian Lizzi, Editor-in-Chief, Perigee Books

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