The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

Publishers rally for Sony launch

04.09.08

Publishers are ratcheting up their digital promotions to coincide with the launch of the Sony Reader in the UK. Waterstone’s m.d. Gerry Johnson said that preorders for the device, which finally went on sale at its stores today (4th September), were "comfortably in the thousands". E-books will be available to download from Waterstone.com from midday today, so far the site lists about 3,500 fiction titles, and far fewer non-fiction e-books, with discounts of 20%.

With media coverage escalating, publishers have been quick to get behind the launch. Random House, Penguin and independent press Tonto Books launched special digital campaigns. Penguin is offering sample chapters of six of its new novels from its website. The publisher has submitted more than 600 titles for sale from the Waterstone’s site, which will be stocking “thousands” of e-books from publishers. “It’s thrilling to see so much enthus­iastic activity around e-books, seven years after their first incarnation,” said Penguin digital publisher Jeremy Ettinghausen.

Random House is hosting a virtual exhibition about e-books and e-book readers in the social networking site, Second Life. It will feature a video of Paper Trails author Mandy Haggith, a message board for visitors, where they can leave feedback, and a competition to win the Sony device. New content and features will be added throughout the autumn.

Tonto is offering an e-book of Stephen Shieber’s Being Normal, available for the Sony Reader, free to anyone who buys the paperback edition from its website.

The device has also received mainstream press coverage this week, including articles in the Evening Standard, Daily Mail and Daily Tele­graph, as well as television exposure.

Meanwhile, Waterstone’s is to open two new branches by the end of the year after its new 5,000 sq ft store in Dunfermline began trading last month. Another Scottish store, a 4,500 sq ft branch in Livingston, will open in October. A 22,000 sq ft branch at the Liverpool One shopping complex will also begin trading in late 2008.

Blog: The one dimensional Reader

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