The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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RHG readies 1,000 e-books and widget

06.12.07 Alison Flood

The Random House Group is plotting a concerted push into the e-book market, with plans to launch a list of up to 1,000 titles by the end of 2008. The news comes as RHG starts recruiting for a new digital publisher, who will work with publishers and authors across the group to look at how best to exploit their material across all digital platforms.

RHG is also launching a "browse and search" widget in early 2008—a device that can be placed on a web page to enable users to see and search within the text of its books. The widget will be launched in February, enabling users to view up to 10% of a book's content. Around 2,000 titles will be available to browse in February, with retailers and bloggers also able to place the widget on their own pages and customise it.

RHG's digital team, headed by Fionnuala Duggan, is already in discussions with retailers about integrating the technology with their sites. "This will be the first manifestation of our 'digital warehouse'," she said.

RHG is in the process of digitising its backlist, investing £5m over the next three years. Group managing director Peter Bowron said that the 4,000 titles that RHG has published over the past two years, which are already held digitally, are currently being loaded into a digital warehouse, with scanning of non-digitised backlist to start soon. Around 2,000 titles are already in the digital warehouse.

The publisher is planning to relaunch its e-book list next year with a few hundred titles, and hopes to expand this to 1,000 by the end of 2008. This year, the publishing group has also launched its direct-to-consumer website—rbooks.co.uk—and has increased its emphasis on digital marketing campaigns.

digital e-book Random House widget Alison Flood