Iconic UK independent publisher Haynes Publishing launched its first eBooks at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week, which are now available direct to consumers via its own website.
The 50 year old publisher, much loved for its car manuals and now offering a wide list of non-fiction, enthusiasts’ titles – including a manual on the Starship Enterprise – has become one of the first UK publishers to publish its eBooks independently.
The first titles, which include TV sports commentator Steve Rider’s My Chequered Career (published in hard copy on 4 October), are available from a new standalone website, accessible via Haynes’ UK homepage. Titles are available to download to web-enabled iPads, Sony e-readers, Galaxy and other Android devices.
Other eBook titles from Haynes’ popular current list include Bernie Ecclestone’s biography Bernie; Tiff Gear, the story of former Top Gear and Fifth Gear presenter Tiff Needell; the ever-popular Memories of Senna and the colourful, personal accounts of RAF personnel serving in Afghanistan Blue Sky Warriors.
“We’re very excited to be making some of our most popular titles available as eBooks and we’re particularly proud to be doing so independently,” says Jeremy Yates-Round, managing director, Haynes Publishing. “Haynes has developed both the product and delivery system through our HaynesPRO division using entirely in-house resources so that we can offer our best-loved titles electronically at competitive prices.
“Thanks to the strength of the Haynes brand and our loyal customers, we are pioneering the way to deliver digital content via our own platform. Other independent publishers have already shown interest in our approach and new capabilities and we are confident this is a significant move forward for the publishing industry which will benefit customers by bringing more competition into online book delivery.
“At Haynes we are now able to produce products not only in an ePub format which can be delivered to desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones, we have also produced cutting edge interactive electronic versions of our Haynes Manuals which incorporate video, audio, interactive hyperlinks, predictive text search capabilities and many other functions including Dictionary and Conversion calculators.”
