The Friday Project
Encyclopedia
The Friday Project is a London
-based independent publishing house founded by Paul Carr and Clare Christian in June 2004. It evolved out of The Friday Thing, an Internet
newsletter
taking an offbeat look at the week's politics, media activities and general current events, originally written together with Charlie Skelton
.
The Friday Project are notable for two main reasons. First, they believe themselves to be, at present, the only print publisher wholly concerned with finding material on the web and then turning it into traditional books. Lots of other publishers source books from web properties but TFP do so at the exclusion of normal publishing models. Second, they have made a large amount of their output available free to download as part of the Creative Commons
license.
In 2006, The Friday Project announced that it had hired Scott Pack, then Buying Manager at bookshop chain Waterstones, as TFP's Commercial Director. Pack took up the post in September 2006 at the end of a six-month notice period. In his job at Waterstones, Pack was once described by a newspaper as being seen by 'many' otherwise unidentified people as 'the most powerful man in the books trade' for his ability to decide which new titles will be successful.
The Friday Project also have an audio arm which is responsible for the CD Fitness to Practice
by Amateur Transplants
. The album includes the internet hit London Underground which has spawned a popular viral video.
During 2006, The Friday Project's Commercial Director Scott Pack courted controversy with his Me And My Big Mouth blog. Positioned as an irreverent commentary on the UK book trade it sparked a number of national press stories and was highly critical of lead retailers Waterstone's
and WH Smith. He also launched personal attacks on journalists he claimed had reported on his time at Waterstone's
incorrectly. These included Nick Cohen, Norman Lebrecht and D.J. Taylor.
In December 2006, it was reported that Carr - along with Online Editor, Graham Pond, had left The Friday Project with Carr leading a buy-out of the company's Internet media arm to create a new company, Friday Cities.
In 2007, Clare Christian announced the launch of Friday Fiction, a new imprint for original fiction discovered on the web.
In March 2007 The Friday Project was shortlisted for two industry awards (or Nibbies), one for Innovation in the Book Industry for their commitment to making their books available under a creative commons
license and Managing Director Clare Christian was shortlisted for a second for the company in the category of UK Young Publisher of the Year.
On 1 May 2007 The Friday Project's Managing Director Clare Christian won the Nibbie for UK Young Publisher of the Year.
Following losses in excess of £1,700,000, the Friday Project went into liquidation on 30 March 2008.
After much speculation, in May 2008 HarperCollins UK bought certain assets of The Friday Project from its administrator, hiring Scott Pack and also Clare Christian (no longer employed by them), and taking on several front and backlist titles; the first title to be published under the new Friday Project imprint was the critically acclaimed comic autobiographical novel The State of Me by Nasim Marie Jafry.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based independent publishing house founded by Paul Carr and Clare Christian in June 2004. It evolved out of The Friday Thing, an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
taking an offbeat look at the week's politics, media activities and general current events, originally written together with Charlie Skelton
Charlie Skelton
Charlie Skelton is a comedy writer and actor from Suffolk, England.An Oxford University graduate, he started out as a journalist, writing features for the Evening Standard and The Guardian...
.
The Friday Project are notable for two main reasons. First, they believe themselves to be, at present, the only print publisher wholly concerned with finding material on the web and then turning it into traditional books. Lots of other publishers source books from web properties but TFP do so at the exclusion of normal publishing models. Second, they have made a large amount of their output available free to download as part of the Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license.
In 2006, The Friday Project announced that it had hired Scott Pack, then Buying Manager at bookshop chain Waterstones, as TFP's Commercial Director. Pack took up the post in September 2006 at the end of a six-month notice period. In his job at Waterstones, Pack was once described by a newspaper as being seen by 'many' otherwise unidentified people as 'the most powerful man in the books trade' for his ability to decide which new titles will be successful.
The Friday Project also have an audio arm which is responsible for the CD Fitness to Practice
Fitness to Practice
Fitness to Practice is a 2004 album produced for charity by Amateur Transplants . 10% of the profits from the album sales go to Macmillan Cancer Relief....
by Amateur Transplants
Amateur Transplants
Amateur Transplants are a London based, British parody musical duo consisting of medical professionals, Dr. Adam Kay and Dr. Suman Biswas , who came to prominence in 2005 with a song about the London Underground, parodying the Jam song "Going Underground"...
. The album includes the internet hit London Underground which has spawned a popular viral video.
During 2006, The Friday Project's Commercial Director Scott Pack courted controversy with his Me And My Big Mouth blog. Positioned as an irreverent commentary on the UK book trade it sparked a number of national press stories and was highly critical of lead retailers Waterstone's
Waterstone's
Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....
and WH Smith. He also launched personal attacks on journalists he claimed had reported on his time at Waterstone's
Waterstone's
Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....
incorrectly. These included Nick Cohen, Norman Lebrecht and D.J. Taylor.
In December 2006, it was reported that Carr - along with Online Editor, Graham Pond, had left The Friday Project with Carr leading a buy-out of the company's Internet media arm to create a new company, Friday Cities.
In 2007, Clare Christian announced the launch of Friday Fiction, a new imprint for original fiction discovered on the web.
In March 2007 The Friday Project was shortlisted for two industry awards (or Nibbies), one for Innovation in the Book Industry for their commitment to making their books available under a creative commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license and Managing Director Clare Christian was shortlisted for a second for the company in the category of UK Young Publisher of the Year.
On 1 May 2007 The Friday Project's Managing Director Clare Christian won the Nibbie for UK Young Publisher of the Year.
Following losses in excess of £1,700,000, the Friday Project went into liquidation on 30 March 2008.
After much speculation, in May 2008 HarperCollins UK bought certain assets of The Friday Project from its administrator, hiring Scott Pack and also Clare Christian (no longer employed by them), and taking on several front and backlist titles; the first title to be published under the new Friday Project imprint was the critically acclaimed comic autobiographical novel The State of Me by Nasim Marie Jafry.