Penguin Random House U.K. Launches "My Independent Bookstore"

'My Independent Bookshop' users can set up their shop with twelve books at a time on their shelves - changing the display as often as they choose by season, genre or simply their mood. This could be based on their twelve favourite books or covers, the dozen books that made them cry, or, if they are an author, the last twelve books they wrote - the possibilities are endless. Users can also bring together their favourite shops from across the platform to create their own personal high street with shop owners as diverse as their best loved authors, closest friends, or local librarian, to help them find complementary and unexpected new reads.

Integration with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ makes it easy for readers to give their friends, family and fans in their social networks a window into their shops. Through the website itself readers can also share and request personal recommendations from among the 'My Independent Bookshop' community if they choose.

Anyone setting up an online bookshop will be eligible for rewards including the chance to meet authors, personalise their bookshop and have access to early copies of brand new titles and sought-after tickets to book events; all organised by Penguin Random House UK especially for the 'My Independent Bookshop' community.

Commenting on the launch, Hannah Telfer, Group Director, Consumer & Digital Development at Penguin Random House UK, said: "People are becoming ever more sophisticated in the way they move between their social, digital and physical worlds. We want to harness the opportunities this creates to celebrate the power of human recommendation. By giving people the magical experience of curating their own bookshop and sharing this with their communities we are putting the discovery of great books and authors - no matter who they are published by - directly into the hands of book lovers."