HACHETTE BOOK GROUP ANNOUNCES EPUB3 PROGRAM LAUNCH
November 16, 2012 – Hachette Digital today announced the launch of Hachette Book Group’s EPUB3 program. Hachette Digital is committed to the EPUB3 format, which allows greater flexibility in representing enhanced content, including interactive covers, embedded multimedia and interactivity, pop-up screens for end-notes, and melded audio and text, as well as improved navigation of reference content, creating a high-quality digital reading experience.
Hachette Book Group is releasing 16 titles in EPUB3 from November 2012 to March 2013. These titles cover many genres – from psychology (Po Bronson’s Nurtureshock), to memoir (Elton John’s Love is the Cure) to business (William Poundstone’s Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?).
HBG’s popular health and fitness titles – Jackie Warner’s This Is Why You're Fat (And How to Get Thin Forever), The DASH Diet Action Plan, Rocco DeSpirito’s Now Eat This! 100 Quick Calorie Cuts at Home, and Making Babies by Sami David MD and Jill Blakeway, among others – will greatly benefit from the enhancements that EPUB3 offers.
EPUB3 opens new doors for illustrated titles – for young and adult readers alike – in digital form, and HBG will offer Todd Parr’s Otto Goes to Camp and James Patterson’s young adult novel Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life as well as classic cookbooks such as The Flavor Bible and Vegan Cooking for Carnivores. EPUB3 will enable HBG to give readers a far richer reading experience.
Hachette plans to publish all standard novels in EPUB3 by March 2013.
Hachette Book Group President and COO Ken Michaels said "HBG's goal is to get our authors' works out to consumers as broadly as possible, with the most engaging experience for readers regardless of device or platform, along with high quality aesthetics and entertainment. To do this in a world of rapid technological change, the industry needs standards like EPUB3 that enable a wider range of publishing creativity in handling complex layouts, rich media and interactivity capabilities. This EPUB3 release is an exciting step forward in our publishing program and will greatly benefit our readers as the industry fully recognizes the potential and fully adopts this important standard.”
