Orson and Co hires Foyles' Jonathan Ruppin

Jonathan Ruppin, formerly web editor at Foyles, has joined Orson & Co. as literary director.

Founded by c.e.o. Benjamin Morse and novelist Richard Mason, Orson & Co. is a digital platform that produces e-lumes, which are "hand-crafted eLuminated manuscripts" that sync audiobooks with text.

Ruppin will be working with publishers to create a list of titles featuring contemporary, backlist and classic titles in both fiction and non-fiction.

He said: “I've spent over 20 years in the book trade looking for different ways to connect readers with pleasurable and satisfying reading experiences.

"Orson have given me the opportunity to work across the industry to curate a list of titles of exceptional quality and to make each one a memorably unique experience, in a way that is diametrically different to the bland uniformity of the first generation of ebooks."

The initial list will be available in the UK through Apple's App Store in this spring, with an American launch following in the summer. Orson & Co. will produce around three dozen titles in 2016, with the scale of production being ramped up markedly in subsequent years.