Relaunch for HC UK site

HarperCollins UK has relaunched its website with readers able to buy e-books directly from the publisher.

People using the site can download digital versions of HarperCollins titles to read on the free HarperCollins reader app. Prices for titles range from 99p for Mark Sennen's thriller Bad Blood, to £8.99 for Robin Hobb's latest fantasy saga, Fool's Assassin.

At the moment, physical books are unavailable to buy through the site, with readers instead given links to purchase through another retailer, with purchase buttons for Amazon, Waterstones and W H Smith. The publisher hopes to make physical books available directly through the site in December.

The relaunched website follows the lead set by HarperCollins US back in July, which redesigned its own site with a direct to consumer function. Australia and Canada are set to follow.

HarperCollins first began experimenting with direct to consumer in October last year, launching dedicated sites for Narnia and C S Lewis which sold e-books.

The UK site has social media functions built into it, while author pages will give rundowns of future events and their latest releases. There are also dedicated pages for each imprint.

Digital sales director Wendy Neale said: "It’s fantastic that readers can now access our brilliant content directly from HC.co.uk, which really does once and for all put us in the retailer bracket – which begun with our brilliant Collins, Tolkien and C S Lewis platforms. I’m looking forward to the opportunities that the site presents us, and can’t wait to see it go from strength to strength.”

Group strategy and digital director Nick Perrett added: “I’m thrilled to see the new HC.co.uk go live. In a market where it’s so important to give consumers as much choice as possible, the fact that the majority of our content is now available to purchase online is fantastic news.”