'Will there always be books? I think so. I hope so. I believe so.'

Hugh Andrew on the future of the book as Birlinn launch their eBook programme.

Birlinn and Polygon Book publishers have taken the plunge into the world of eBooks! From today 45 of their most popular titles will be available on the Amazon and Waterstone’s websites and in a few weeks time, on the IBookstore (as well as other smaller on-line retailers). It is a hugely exciting step for this growing independent publisher and offers many new opportunities. Take a look at the Birlinn website (www.Birlinn.co.uk ) or at Birlinn and Polygon titles on Amazon and Waterstone’s websites. Fiction and poetry, humour, biography, music and history all feature on the launch list and more titles will be added every month.

Why make this move?

Today, eBook sales account for about 6% of sales in the UK booktrade. That is up from 2% last year. It is expected to reach between 15 and 20% within three years. In the US, eBooks already account for 13 per cent of the market. Birlinn have moved in early and hope to take advantage of the market both here at home and abroad.
Longer term they aim to digitise as many of their backlist titles as possible and most new books (rights and content permitting) will be published as eBooks alongside traditional formats.

Is this the end of the book?

Managing director Hugh Andrews commented: ‘Will there always be books? I think so. I hope so. I believe so. But publishers must take advantage of the opportunities that this new format offers. When we commission books today, we are buying content that can then be published in all the formats that are currently available and some that are only just developing – the enhanced e-book, the book app and the like. The book and the e-book will live side-by-side and if we do this right, the eBook will take us further and faster than we ever imagined possible.‘


At the same time, the book trade is facing changes in the high street. Waterstone’s struggles are well documented and in Scotland, independent booksellers are thin on the ground. Those that thrive are inventive, informative, community based shops such as the Watermill in Aberfeldy, Main Street Trading in St Boswells and Yeadon’s in Elgin and Banchory. They offer friendly advice and service and make shopping pleasurable. Change is coming fast and from all directions but the directors of Birlinn firmly believe that the future is bright for both independent publishing and independent bookselling.

Something for everyone? You bet!

The Birlinn eBook list is available from online retailers and the first books in this digital format include the 2010 Christmas surprise hit, Delete This At Your Peril by Neil Forsyth which was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 and featured Brian Cox; Calum’s Road – an international best-seller by Roger Hutchinson; Poor Mercy – an outstanding novel set in Darfur by Fife-based Jonathan Falla; Under Fishbone Clouds – the much applauded first novel by former Edinburgh University student, Sam Meekings; The Poems of Norman MacCaig alongside two poetry collections from the National Poet of Scotland, Liz Lochhead; new crime writing from Gillian Galbraith and from Shirley McKay and thrillers from Ken McClure; the tenth anniversary edition of Alan Bissett’s Boy Racers; the brand new novel from one of the UK’s finest young astronomers, Stuart Clark – The Sky’s Dark Labyrinth; Scott-land by Scotland on Sunday’s Literary Editor, Stuart Kelly, shortlisted for the Scottish Mortgage Trust award and long-listed for the Samuel Johnson award; dramatic non-fiction from Alistair Moffat – Scotland: A Genetic Journey; classics of two very different types from Robin Jenkins and Iain Thomson; and music titles including Some People are Crazy: The John Martyn Story.

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