Our company
Ideas can be powerful. This book company was one such idea.
Here's how it started.
After discovering the Do Lectures and watching a talk online back in 2011, our publisher Miranda got in touch with the co-founders of this small, magical event held annually on the edge of west Wales, David and Clare Hieatt. Inspired by the lecture - and with a 20-year career in book publishing under her belt, most recently at Penguin Random House - she wanted to know if they had considered publishing books by their incredible speakers. The first meeting happened a week later. They bonded over Paul Arden books and David sent her a copy of The Republic of Tea.
In May 2013, a new independent publisher came onto the market with five books: Do Grow, Do Birth, Do Story, Do Improvise and Do Disrupt. The books were small but the covers were big (thanks to artist and designer, James Victore), and with the help of our sales representatives PGUK, they found their way into bookshops, lifestyle and gallery stores.
Our mission to publish books that inspire action and positive change has never changed. These beautifully designed, concise guides are written by the change makers, pioneers and experts whose stories and ideas shared at the Do Lectures have inspired others to go and Do. The collection (40 titles and counting!) spans design, business, wellbeing and sustainable living with each book focusing on the ‘doing’ rather than the background theory. You can now find Do Books in print, digital and audio forms in different countries and languages around the world.
We've been shortlisted for many industry awards: British Book Design and Production Awards 2014 - Best Brand/Series Identity; FutureBook Awards 2022 - Event category; IPG Awards 2023 - Marketing category; The British Book Awards 2024 - Small Press of the Year regional finalist; and won Best Short Book at the Business Book Awards 2023.
You can hear a bit more about what we do in this short film made by Hackney Downs Studios/Eat Work Art Ltd in 2022 as part of their Virtual Open Studios.
