The Bookseller.com

1st December 2008

PD James is top e-book for Faber

10.09.08 Catherine Neilan

Two of the first 20 e-books launched by Faber last week are topping Waterstone's e-books sales chart, according to the publisher. Faber launched its e-book list to coincide with the arrival of the Sony Reader in Waterstone's stores. The launch list includes PD James' most recent novel The Private Patient, which was Waterstone's bestselling e-book. The Pocket Book of General Ignorance, by John Lloyd, Stephen Fry and John Mitchinson, was in second place.

Among other ebooks launched by Faber is award-winner Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and Giles Foden’s novel The Last King of Scotland.

Henry Volans, head of digital publishing at Faber, said he was delighted with the sales success: "Given that we’re selling to a restricted group, The Private Patient and The Book of General Ignorance are achieving a remarkable success rate. We’re confident that our e-book sales will only grow in the run up to Christmas as more and more people buy or are given the Reader. We're now busy expanding our ebook list."

Faber plans to release its frontlist in e-book format alongside print from "early next year for those books where we have an ebook royalty in place”, Volans added. RRP would be set to match the lowest-priced available print edition, he said.

Faber digitisation e books Catherine Neilan Sony Reader watestone's

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