Do Book Company to launch in May

New independent publisher the Do Book Company is launching in May with a branded series of five pocket guides.

The books—Do Birth, Do Grow, Do Story, Do Improvise and Do Disrupt—are written by speakers from the Do Lectures, an annual four-day ideas conference held in Wales.

Founder and publisher Miranda West described the lectures as “the British version of TED in a tent, but more down to earth”. The books are not transcripts of the talks—West called them “little inspirationals” and said she spotted a gap in the market: “There weren’t many small, concise books that really help people to learn new things—you can get the Dummies guides but they’re about 500 pages long.

“These are for people interested in making sourdough bread or growing a vegetable patch; it’s for people who want to be inspired to go and do it. I love the idea of learning by doing—there aren’t pages and pages of theory, the authors are the experts and have huge amounts of experience and knowledge.”

West founded Do Books when she came across videos of the talks online and contacted festival organisers Claire and David Hieatt about publishing some of the ideas. A former Random House editorial director, West headed up the Vermillion imprint of self-help and personal development titles.

She said Do Book, based in Shoreditch, will publish around 10 titles a year, with books for children coming in the near future. The first five titles will be published on 2nd May, priced at £6.99 print and £3.99 e-book.