Juliet Annan explains in the Telegraph why, when conglomerization is king and bookstores are trying to be more like Tesco and less like 84 Charing Cross Road, she set up Fig Tree -- Penguin's first new hardcover imprint in 20 years:

The successful imprint combines the best of the huge with the best of the small, the sales and marketing machine of the juggernaut company combined with the boutique (awful word) sensitivity of a small editorial, design and publicity team where the writer and the agent will know everyone involved and the taste and sensibilities of the team.

Bottom line, Annan says, "the most important quality now in books is distinctiveness," though she admits that it might be a good idea to ask if she's achieved this in a couple years' time...