Book publisher Penguin Random House is giving away 300 free books today, to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and get people picking up books outside of their usual tastes.

Although Penguin Random House uses Griffin Press to print its books, the covers were printed in house on wrapping paper, and manually folded over the books by the company’s publicity team.

The Blind Date with a Book promotion is split between Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, popping up at public transport hubs and libraries.

The books are a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, split between international and local authors. All have been published in the past six months.

The #blinddatewithabook hashtag is currently popular, with many people taking snaps of the orange-coloured books in local street libraries.

Each book in the promotion has an identical cover, meaning they are impossible to judge prior to reading. The covers include the lines, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover this Valentine’s Day. Just enjoy a great story on us.’

Griffin Press, which operates within the ASX-listed PMP Group has one of the world’s most advanced bookline. The digital end-to-end solution combines HP printers with Kolbus bookbinding machines. A reel of paper at one end, finished books with covers at the other.

Penguin Random House is an American-based multinational publishing company formed in 2013 from the merger of Random House and Penguin Group.

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