Penguin Random House and Amtrak Partner to Create an In-Train Reading Platform
Today Penguin Random House announced a new partnership with Amtrak that will provide a selection of free ebook excerpts to passengers riding the Boston to Washington, D.C. Acela Express. The excerpts will be available to passengers through Amtrak's redesigned WiFi service, AmtrakConnect, and each excerpt will include buy buttons that allow readers to purchase the title from a number of retailers.
Readers will be able to preview excerpts from PRH titles such as The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, and Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, among others.
"We're thrilled to work with Amtrak to share great books with readers. The partnership allows us to help thousands of train passengers each day discover their next book," said Christine McNamara, vice president and director of partnerships for PRH, in a press release.
This is not the first D2C initiative targeting readers in transit. Last year, HarperCollins brought over twenty titles to airborne readers through a partnership with JetBlue. Like PRH, HarperCollins offers free ebook selections through JetBlue's Fly-Fi Hub, and readers can purchase those titles in-flight from the retailer of their choice. Similar initiatives have gained popularity on European transit as well, including a German bus company and French railway.
The PRH and Amtrak partnership will continue throughout the year, expanding to all Northeast Regional trains that are WiFi enabled. PRH will continue to add new title selections, including audiobooks.
Read the full press release below.
New York, New York, April 10, 2015-Amtrak Acela Express passengers will have access to a selection of bestselling fiction and nonfiction from Penguin Random House, the exclusive book content partner for the launch of the newly redesigned AmtrakConnect® on-board Wi-Fi page. Acela Express customers using the Amtrak service between Boston and Washington, D.C., via New York and Philadelphia, will now be able to read more than twenty free excerpts from a variety of genres across all Penguin Random House's adult imprints.
Ellen Harvey is a freelance writer and editor who covers the latest technologies and strategies reshaping the publishing landscape. She previously served as the Senior Editor at Publishing Executive and Book Business.
