Small UK independent publisher goes global with eBooks

Nov. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- Alnpete Press, a small independent UK publisher of fiction by new authors, today announced that it has expanded into a worldwide market with the release of the first of their titles as electronic books through the global eBook retailer Kobo.  As a result Alnpete Press titles will now be available to readers in over 190 countries.

Alnpete Press has, up to now, published titles in trade paperback format.  These have been available through the usual retailers, including high-street bookshops and online stores such as Amazon.co.uk, as well as from the Alnpete Press online bookshop.  Although available for purchase by customers outside the UK, the delivery costs can be disproportionately high.  Along with the virtual impossibility for a small UK publisher to have their titles stocked by overseas retailers, especially in large English language markets such as the US, this has seriously restricted the opportunity for most readers throughout the world to be able to read Alnpete Press titles.  The advent of electronic books has, at last, provided the means for readers around the world to have ready access to titles from small publishers like Alnpete Press at a realistic price.

"The widespread adoption of the ePub industry-wide standard for electronic books means that it has become a realistic option for a small publisher like us, with our own in-house technical capability, to produce a single, standard, electronic version of a title that can be read by the widest possible potential customer base.  However, being able to make an electronic book available to a world-wide market was proving to be just as difficult as for print; the largely US-based online retailers make it difficult and/or uneconomic for small UK publishers."  said Al Murray, responsible for eTitles within Alnpete Press.

"We looked at Kobo, which is based in Toronto but has a truly global customer base, and were impressed by their customer-centric service and their device-neutral approach.  When we contacted them to see about making Alnpete Press titles available through Kobo we were even more impressed.  They couldn't have been more helpful."

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About Alnpete Press
Alnpete Press is an independent publisher in the UK. Established towards the end of 2005 with the express purpose of providing a channel for independent voices and an opportunity for independent thinkers to have access to those new voices.

About Kobo, Inc.
Kobo is a global eReading service backed by majority shareholder Indigo Books & Music, Borders Group, REDgroup Retail, and Cheung Kong Holdings. Kobo believes consumers should be able to read any book on any device. With a catalogue of over two million eBooks, and an open platform, Kobo enables retailers, device manufacturers and mobile operators to bring the joy of eReading to customers everywhere.