The Untold Story of Dove Books
Sex. Prostitutes. O.J. Simpson jurors. Celebrities. Illegal activities. Affairs. Creative accounting practices. Employees crying in despair. And of course, bestsellers. Welcome to the world of the most talked about, controversial, history making, unusual and feared book publishing company the world has ever seen.
It's time to shine a light on Dove Books.
It all started with an $8,000 backgammon game win over mega-author Sidney Sheldon. Soon, the likes of Nicole Brown Simpson's friend Faye Resnick, physicist Stephen Hawking, and many other authors would find themselves promoted by the same publishing company.
For the first time, read the behind-the-scenes story of Dove Books and its husband and wife founders, litigious Michael Viner and actress Deborah Raffin in a new memoir/tell-all underway. Their improbable publishing practices produced New York Times bestselling books, such as You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again, where they defied the rest of the publishing world by hiring ex-prostitutes to share details of their sexual exploits with the Hollywood elite. These women were taken advantage of by powerful men — and for the first time, exposed these men by naming names in their books — years before the #MeToo movement of 2017.
Includes journal entries, photos, drawings and the famous Friday Cartoons created during Dove's rise and fall.
Written by Dove's creative director and including interviews with Dove employees, authors, lawyers and more, this as yet untitled book is filled with first-hand accounts of activities that will leave you shaking your head, laughing out loud, and squirming with discomfort.
If you're a fan of stranger than fiction stories, drama, work place tell alls, '90s pop culture or the book publishing industry, this book will give you a front row seat.
Get an inside view of daily life at this infamous publishing house. Check this DoveBooksLitUp site for ongoing updates, and Like our Facebook page.
Do you have a story about Dove Books? Interviews are now being conducted.
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Authors, editors, lawyers, assistants, runners — do you have a personal story about Dove Books, Michael Viner, Deborah Raffin, or events from the heyday of Dove that would make people shake their heads and say, "You must be kidding me!"?
I want to interview you.
The good, the bad, the incredible. Anything that gives readers a sense of what life was like at Dove Books.
Please use the contact form below to reach out to me.
Thank you!
About the Author
Rick Penn-Kraus designed hundreds of book covers, audio book packages, posters and marketing materials as design director at Dove Books, including numerous New York Times bestsellers that showcased his photography and illustrations. He also led the graphics department at humor publisher Price Stern Sloan (PSS), designing books on photography, cooking, humor (he illustrated Mad Libs), and much more.
Rick is a freelance creative director, specializing in art direction, design, photography, illustration, social media content, and more. He has won numerous awards for his work.
Managing art departments at marketing firms Hill & Knowlton and Weber Shandwick, and as a freelancer, Rick worked with clients that include Pepsi, PG&E, Mazda, Peace Corps, Motorola, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Coldwell Banker, UC Press and many more.
He contributes to the Huffington Post, and published The Desk Book, a humor book of hypothetical desks that reached a second printing. Rick teaches numerous software programs to clients throughout the United States (Vans, Automobile Club of Southern California, Peace Corps), online, and at local private schools. He volunteers regularly at hospitals performing on guitar for patients, and lives in West Los Angeles.
To see Rick's portfolio, please visit:
Available for Speaking Engagements
An enthusiastic, humorous and accomplished speaker, Rick Penn-Kraus has given talks for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), USC's Annenberg School for Communication, UCLA's Interview with a Bruin program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and other organizations.
Rick is available to speak on a variety of topics related to his upcoming memoir about Dove Books, including:
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Life at Dove Books
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Book cover design: The Dove way, and the way other publishers do it
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Using your journal as a book authoring resource
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Sketching as a means of capturing the moment
Each talk is filled with personal examples from Rick's experiences in the publishing field.
Please use the contact form on this site for your request.
CONTACT
For media and speaking engagements:
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