Pan Macmillan has launched today its new website –

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 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:

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.”

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 features the classic story, plus:

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.

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.

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 – http://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.

At the same time the publisher’s sales of print books have shown double digit sales growth in the same quarter.

Pan Macmillan’s Q1 rate of ebook sales has increased fifteen-fold since the first quarter of 2010. The publisher now has some 1300 ebooks available, up from 500 during the same period a year ago. Pan Macmillan is currently digitising the remainder of its active backlist.

Pan Macmillan’s ebook programme includes hardback number one bestsellers, Wilbur Smith, whose Those in Peril, released in March 2011, was its fastest ever selling ebook at the same time as breaking records for his hardback sales, Jeffrey Archer, whose latest novel, Only Time Will Tell, is currently at the top of the hardback and ebook bestseller lists, Peter James and Emma Donoghue who have both enjoyed ebook No 1s.

Pan Macmillan also dominated the iBooks Top 20 over Christmas 2010 including its innovative Short Reads series, which packaged individual short stories by branded authors at 99p each and gained them significant promotional profile.

Sara Lloyd, Pan Macmillan’s Digital Director, comments,

“We’re delighted with our strong ebook performance. Clearly the market is developing apace. We’ve capitalised on our ability to move fast to expand our customer base and proactively pursue the strategic promotional, packaging and placement opportunities that digital publishing affords us, to get ahead of the game.”

After the events of the past several weeks, I have been in touch with many of you. It has become clear to me that there is far too little accurate information available in this time of unprecedented change. The issues we all face together are complex, and no news story or 140-character snippet can adequately address them. Therefore, I propose to write you occasionally, when I get a sense that there is a need for direct information.

Read on…

The long-awaited convergence device is here. General chatter about the web seems to be that perhaps the reality doesn’t live up to the iDream (sorry, no more iPuns, I swear). But nevermind – the Apple iPad is a significant device for a number of clear and simple reasons.

Apple has joined the ebook party, which means that the consumer experience is going to get that special Apple flavour. The first good news is that iPad & iBooks are epub compatible, and that’s good news for publishers and consumers alike. The iPad device added to the iBooks platform presents a genuine challenge to Amazon Kindle. It’s a new element in the ebook ecosystem that will bring a fresh challenge to the market this year. Glimpses of the iBooks store in today’s demo suggest ebooks will be priced up to $15.

Read more about the iPad features here (and spot a couple of familiar book covers in the iBooks screenshot).

What I love about this idea is that it’s a passive impulse that taps into all the frantic activity of the web so simply. And now I’m hoping to use it for a question that I have…

We’ve been thinking a lot about how to facilitate conversations about our books on the internet (as I’m sure all publishers have been doing too). One way to do this is to try and aggregate content ‘out there’ back into a central location for our book/s, so you can see all the conversation in one place. (I’m simplifying, I know…)

But this kind of aggregation is not easy and is not the only element needed in the ‘content mix’ – we know that.

So my question is:

dear #lazyweb do you know any examples of really good or clever or fun ‘centralized’ content (aka aggregated book chat). I know about Amazon… any others? OK thx!