Rediscovering lost classics thanks to ebooks
Jonathan Franzen spoke this week about the detrimental effect ebooks have on the world, claiming that serious readers will always prefer print editions and that ebooks are ‘not permanent enough’. Quoted in the Telegraph, Franzen said:
“The Great Gatsby was last updated in 1924. You don’t need it to be refreshed, do you?
“Maybe nobody will care about printed books 50 years from now, but I do. When I read a book, I’m handling a specific object in a specific time and place. The fact that when I take the book off the shelf it still says the same thing – that’s reassuring.
“Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it’s just not permanent enough.”
Here at Bello, we agree with the sentiment that authors ‘worked really hard to make the language just right,’ and the ability to publish in ebook format is ironically enabling us to bring some fantastic books back into print. Without the rise of ebooks in the last few years, it would be much more difficult for authors like Pamela Hansford Johnson, Vita Sackville-West and Andrew Garve – to name just three – to be rediscovered and enjoyed. The same hard work went into publishing these books as did The Great Gatsby, and we’re committed to preserving that legacy for the future – retaining the text as published originally, just changing the format a little to suit the digital age.
Other Bello authors include Gerald Durrell, Francis Durbridge, Josephine Bell, R. C. Sherriff, Gillian Tindall and David Williams, with many more lost classics to follow throughout 2012.
Pan Macmillan launches first phase of new website
Pan Macmillan has launched today its new website – www.panmacmillan.com – designed for consumers, trade and the media.
The new site at www.panmacmillan.com delivers a web infrastructure on which to build and develop a growing range of direct-to-consumer platforms to support Pan Macmillan’s established and evolving brands, including picador.com and mykindabook.com.
The website was designed by design agency Root, selected after a four-way pitch for their original and striking design. MMT Digital was selected after a five-way pitch for the technical build.
A content-rich Home Page enables visitors to find out about new titles, featured authors and books, with carousel Showcase, Brand New and Featured bars which spin and highlight particular themes and subjects guiding readers to relevant books and authors.
A stand-alone Children’s Home Page takes visitors directly on a journey through Macmillan’s wide range of bestselling children’s titles.
News and Events pages with regular updates about author readings and events, and a host of other Pan Macmillan-related activity, take visitors straight through to comment and trailers.
A range of subject pages such as ‘Crime & Thrillers‘, ‘Women’s Fiction’ and ‘Science Fiction’, drive visitors to other content and titles around the site. A new “Books You Might Like” feature encourages readers to explore new authors. The site is e-commerce enabled but also features links to a range of retailers.
Sara Lloyd, Digital Director, Pan Macmillan said today:
We’re delighted to launch this important first phase of the new panmacmillan.com. We’ve created a hub for our authors, readers and trade customers. We wanted to demonstrate our passion for our authors and titles, and create an environment where readers can find the best information and conversation about our books and authors. The site will act as a place for readers and writers to come together to talk about books when we introduce additional social features into the next phase, and it also delivers us a modular toolkit for quickly developing a dedicated web presence for any campaign or author.
For trade and media, there is a comprehensive “one stop shop” section, offering sophisticated online resources for sales customers, media and rights’ buyers. In this section customers and media can view book pages for forthcoming titles and high resolution book jackets, download book catalogues, order forms, translation and rights’ guides, check rights’ availability for specific titles and, if registered for a bookseller account, access advance information sheets.
Pan Macmillan launches new ebook bundles and second round of digital-only Short Reads featuring Peter James and Emma Donoghue
Pan Macmillan today published its first ebook bundles (collections of 2 or 3 titles in a single ebook) and a second collection of ebook Short Reads for 2011’s digital Christmas.
The ebook bundles will sell from between £13.99 and £15.99 and include books by bestselling writers Ken Follett, Jon Ronson, Sue Grafton and Andrew Marr.
Ken Follett’s Thundering Good Thrillers feature three classic spy thrillers from the master stortyteller, Eye of the Needle, Jackdaws and Hornet Flight.
A History of 20th Century Britain bundles together for the first time Andrew Marr’s two bestselling volumes, A History of Modern Britain and The Making of Modern Britain.
Jon Ronson’s Adventures with Extraordinary People includes The Pyschopath Test, published earlier this year.
Sue Grafton’s new novel, V Is For Vengeance, has also been published early in ebook to meet the demand over Christmas, with the hardback out in January.
The full list is of ebook bundles is:
| Andrew Marr | A History of 20th Century Britain | A History of Modern Britain, The Making of Modern Britain |
| Jon Ronson | Jon Ronson’s Adventures With Extraordinary People | Them: Adventures with Extremists, Men Who Stare at Goats, The Psychopath Test |
| Ken Follett | Ken Follett’s Thundering Good Thrillers | Eye of the Needle, Hornet Flight, Jackdaws |
| Sue Grafton | Kinsey Millhone: First Three Novels | A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, C is for Corpse |
| Alyson Noel | The Immortals 1–3 | Evermore, Blue Moon, Shadowland |
| Andrea Camilleri | The Montalbano Mysteries: Three crime novels of Sicily | The Shape of Water, The Terracotta Dog, The Snack Thief |
Short Reads, which were first launched for Christmas 2010, are designed to be eye-catching titles at a low price that enable new ebook device owners to sample some of the best Pan Mac writers when they are hunting around for something to read on Boxing Day.
The 2011 list, with each ebook retailing at 99p, comprises three new titles from three bestselling Pan Macmillan writers – Christmas is for the Kids by Peter James (who has already had huge success with The Perfect Murder ebook, which was in the Top 10 chart in iBooks for much of 2010 and has been in the Top 100 consistently since), Three and a Half Deaths by Emma Donoghue and Bedlam by Andrew Lane. Also now available as Short Reads are Minette Walters’ Chickenfeed, Neal Asher’s Snow in the Desert and Water from the Sun and Discovering Japan by Bret Easton Ellis.
James Long, Pan Macmillan’s Editorial Director, Digital, says,
“We’re delighted with our line- up of digital-first products for the big Christmas ebook rush – they look great and offer something exciting and good value to everyone who is looking for something to read on their new device. We are committed to finding the best way to package ebooks both for readers new to ebooks, with our Short Reads, and for dedicated ebook readers, with our bundles.”
Gerald Durrell and Vita Sackville-West for a new generation Bello, Pan Macmillan’s new digital imprint, launches today
Today, Friday 16 December, Pan Macmillan publishes the first twenty titles from its new digital imprint Bello, reviving 20th century classics for a 21st century audience. All launch books are drawn from the prestigious backlist of the Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency.
Featured in the launch e-book list are 10 titles by one of the country’s best-loved naturalists, Gerald Durrell, whose stories about his globetrotting adventures with animals have enchanted generations of children and adults. Amongst the titles are much-loved favourites such as Beasts in my Belfry, Catch Me a Colobus and The Drunken Forest as well as Ark on the Move, which inspired a television series which was broadcast around the world and brought Durrell’s pioneering rescue and breeding programmes with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust to international attention.
Also in the launch list are five titles by poet, novelist and gardener, Vita Sackville-West. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the author’s death, and sees Macmillan’s Bello imprint revive her critically-acclaimed first novel, Heritage; two novellas, Seducers in Ecuador and The Heir; a novel, Family History, a wonderful evocation of the complexity of 1930s high society mores and values; and The Eagle and The Dove, a biography, long regarded as a classic, of Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
A crime novel from behind the Iron Curtain by Andrew Garve, Murder in Moscow is also available in ebook format from today, along with three novels from the prolific writer (and wife of CP Snow), Pamela Hansford Johnson (the centenary of whose birth is 2012), and Madensky Square, a rare novel for adults from children’s author, Eva Ibbotson.
Lee Durrell, Gerald Durrell’s widow and Honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, says:
”I am utterly delighted at this development. Everybody has been asking me when Gerry’s backlist is going digital, and it’s great that this is now happening.”
Sara Lloyd at Pan Macmillan says:
“It’s a pleasure to be able to republish some great writers of earlier generations and to introduce them to modern audiences in 21st century style.”
The publication of these titles in ebook format is against the backdrop of a massive expansion in the market for ebooks. Pan Macmillan expects their ebook sales to have more than tripled in 2011 compared to 2010.
Bello has been launched in partnership with Curtis Brown, one of Europe’s largest and most prestigious literary agencies. The imprint is designed to bring long out of print books by iconic authors to a new readership in the 21st century, and more than 500 more titles will be made available in ebook format during the next twelve months.
Bello will also make all titles available in Print on Demand (POD) editions.
Forthcoming titles to be published in the Bello imprint next year include books by Francis Durbridge, author of classic detective fiction; novelist and critic D J Taylor, who featured on this year’s Man Booker Prize long list; and a revival of the fiction of Gillian Tindall, now acclaimed for her miniaturist histories.
Dear Zoo for iPad
Dear Zoo for iPad is now available on the App Store. Open the crates from the zoo and find a TALL giraffe, a very FIERCE lion, an extremely NAUGHTY monkey – and much more. Call out the animal names and noises and discover the touch-activated animations. Fun for the whole family, the Dear Zoo App for iPad is perfect for cuddling up with and sharing again and again. What will the zoo send you?
Dear Zoo for iPad features the classic story, plus:
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Lively animation that responds to your child’s touch.
Two ways to enjoy the app: “Read the book” or “Read to me”.
“Read to Me” audio narrated by the award-winning actress Caroline Quentin.
Simple, accessible and suitable for even the littlest iPad user.
New artwork, drawn especially by Rod Campbell.
Picking Pairs game: simple, educational and fun.
Suitable for children aged 18 months and up.
Sara Lloyd, Digital Director said:
We are thrilled our first app is a version of the best selling, iconic Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. For us an app always has to deliver something very special to justify its app-worthiness. Here we’ve developed a digital version of the lift-the-flap experience but we’ve also delivered so much more than that, with entertaining animations, a game and exclusive new artwork from Rod himself, as well as synched audio from Caroline Quentin. Plus, the app is launching ahead of a year of celebrations for the 30th Anniversary of Dear Zoo, bringing it to a whole new generation of readers in a charming new way.
The Dear Zoo App is available from the App Store.
Rod Campbell, the author of Dear Zoo, has been writing and illustrating children’s books for over thirty years. Best known for Dear Zoo, he is also the creator of the much-loved preschool character Buster. Ingeniously simple, with touches of gentle humour, Rod’s books are loved all over the world by children, parents and teachers alike.
Macmillan Children’s Books is one of the UK’s leading children’s publishers. A division of Pan Macmillan, Macmillan Children’s Books publishes over 300 books a year for all age groups. MCB has a strong track-record for developing internationally successful brands, such as: The Gruffalo, Poppy Cat, The Immortals, The Princess Diaries and, of course, Dear Zoo which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2012.
The app was produced by ETV Online, the digital arm of ETV Media Group, one of the UK’s leading independent digital media companies. ETV Online designs and develops interactive apps across web, mobile and social platforms, creating beautiful and engaging experiences for brands, broadcasters and license owners. Clients include MTV, Ofsted, London Business School, Westfield Shopping Centres, Smiths Medical and of course, Macmillan Children’s Books.
Pan Macmillan partners with Curtis Brown to launch new digital imprint – Macmillan Bello
Pan Macmillan announced today a partnership between its new digital imprint, Macmillan Bello, and Curtis Brown, one of Europe’s largest and most prestigious literary agencies.
Macmillan Bello was previously known as Macmillan Compass, the working title for the imprint when its forthcoming launch was first announced in June this year. Pan Macmillan’s Managing Director, Anthony Forbes Watson, says, “Why Bello? Because Bello is an African footballer, Spanish intellectual, Venezuelan poet and American bass guitarist as well as a big and beautiful modern font, and the way an Italian expresses admiration: Bello is hidden talent discovered – and admired!”
From November 2011 to the end of the year, Macmillan Bello will publish 120 ebooks drawn exclusively from Curtis Brown’s list, with a further 400 titles to follow later next year.
Macmillan Bello will publish in digital format and its ebooks will be distributed through Pan Macmillan’s standard channels. It will also make all titles available in Print on Demand (POD) editions.
Macmillan Bello is an imprint designed to use new digital technologies and harness the expertise, supply chain relationships, and editorial and marketing teams at Pan Macmillan to bring long out of print books by iconic authors to a new readership in the 21st century.
The launch list includes novels from Gerald Durrell, bestselling conservationist author and founder of the Durrell Wildlife Trust; the iconic English writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West; Francis Durbridge, author of classic detective fiction; novelist and critic D J Taylor, who recently featured on this year’s Man Booker long list; a revival of the fiction of Gillian Tindall, now acclaimed for her miniaturist histories; and a novel for adults from the much-loved and award-winning children’s author Eva Ibbotson. Further titles in the launch list will be announced in due course.
Anna Davis, agent for literary estates and Head of Book contracts, comments,
“At Curtis Brown we have been researching the best ways to revive our authors’ out-of-print books, and were hugely impressed with Macmillan’s plans, their ambition, vision and commitment to neglected writers. We’ve greatly enjoyed partnering with them on the launch of Macmillan Bello, and are excited about the future and making available great writers from yesteryear.”
Sara Lloyd says,
“We’re excited to have our first partnership established. We have had such a lot of fun working with Curtis Brown to get the business underway and are looking forward to working with them further to grow the list and the business in the coming months.”
Jeremy Trevathan says,
“The moment we started talking to Curtis Brown we realized what an extraordinary list of authors and estates they managed. It’s a personal pleasure to me to be able to bring back into print some great writers of earlier generations, including some of the great names of crime and thriller writing. Working with Curtis Brown has been a real delight and we’ve been really impressed by the commitment and speed with which they have moved to make this partnership possible.”
Macmillan Bello is managed by Pan Macmillan Fiction Publisher, Jeremy Trevathan, and Digital Director, Sara Lloyd. The initiative received seedcorn funding from the Macmillan ‘Innovation From Within’ Programme.
London Unfurled for iPad
London Unfurled for iPad is an interactive digital edition that allows you to fully explore Matteo Pericoli’s intimate drawings of the north and south banks of the Thames.
With London Unfurled for iPad you can scroll the entire drawing seamlessly, flipping from north to south, jumping from place to place, finding famous landmarks, zooming in on its extraordinary detail and discovering over a hundred points of interest with added facts and amazing background information. You can also share your favourite views with your friends, telling your own London story on a digital postcard.
Matteo Pericoli opens up his experience of creating this inimitable work of art in audio voiceover highlights, and two of London’s most famous cultural figures (Iain Sinclair on the North and Will Self on the South) offer their thoughts on the city’s character.
In 2009 Matteo Pericoli (author of the bestselling iconic book Manhattan Unfurled) made an intensive journey along the River Thames, from Hammersmith Bridge to the Millennium Dome. Over two years later, he finished the most astonishing document of his journey: two thirty-seven-foot-long freehand pen-and-ink drawings.
The app has been produced by the Picador team, working with Matteo Pericoli, and developers Red Glasses.
Available now from the Apple iTunes App Store – bit.ly/unfurled
James Long, Pan Macmillan’s Editorial Director for Digital said:
London Unfurled for iPad is not just a ‘book-as-app’, rather it is a digital edition designed for the tablet and for interactivity and I’m delighted with what we’ve made.
Picador Publisher Paul Baggaley added:
London Unfurled is a unique project for Picador and it is one where the extraordinary physical book and the wonderfully useful app complement each other perfectly.
CEO, Red Glasses Adam Martin said:
Matteo’s beautiful artwork pushes the iPad to its limits, from the tiny details of individual windows, to a huge canvas that reaches more than 20 metres end to end. The enthusiasm of Matteo himself and the people at Pan Macmillan – who from the start believed in making an app that complements the book, rather than replaces it – made the project a delight to work on.