New virtual bookshop open for business
02/12/2005
A new e-commerce website showcasing 15,000 books from Scottish writers and publishers and offering a wealth of Scottish literary and cultural information was launched today (2 December) in Edinburgh by Scottish Arts Council Chairman, Richard Holloway.
BooksfromScotland.com has been developed by the Scottish Publishers’ Association with initial funding from the Scottish Arts Council following research into opportunities for the development of publishing in Scotland. It will be the largest source in the world for anyone wanting to find out about and buy fiction and non-fiction books from Scotland and about Scotland.
With an estimated 40 million people of Scots descent scattered throughout the world, it is expected that over half of the site’s browsers and buyers will be from the rest of the UK and overseas, particularly from tourists, expatriates and genealogists in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The site will also be of interest to libraries and the book trade as the definitive source of information on all Scottish books. Academics, students and those living in rural areas are also expected to be high users.
Unique features of the site include the ability to search by settings and author location, a news and events diary, and its wealth of information such as author biographies, reviews, a writer-in-residence, and an adult literacy section - all combined with bookselling. BooksfromScotland.com is searchable by Scottish interest, stocks all titles and does not place a surcharge on hard-to-find titles.
Launching the new website today, Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council, Richard Holloway said: “This wonderfully imaginative initiative is the next best thing to immediate and painless transportation to Scotland from anywhere in the world. At the click of a key, from anywhere in the world, you are magically able to browse among the glories of Scotland's dynamic literary culture. A thousand welcomes to Scotland the Bookshop!”
Lorraine Fannin, Director of the Scottish Publishers’ Association, said: “There is a great appetite for books from and about Scotland but information on those books and writers and the facility to buy them has, until now, been fragmented. BooksfromScotland.com will address this by offering a comprehensive guide to Scottish books and the opportunity to buy them from anywhere in the world. It is an ambitious enterprise but one which will undoubtedly stimulate the Scottish publishing industry.”
This showcase for Scottish publishing and literary talent was welcomed by Scottish Minister for Culture Patricia Ferguson. She said: “This website will be a valuable resource for people to learn more about Scottish culture and literature. In the run up to the Year of Homecoming 2009, as we plan to attract overseas visitors to Scotland to celebrate the anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth, this website will help to increase knowledge of Scotland’s cultural heritage across the world, and add to our efforts to attract more overseas visitors to Scotland to experience it for themselves.”
The UK total book market was worth around £3bn in 2003. Industry estimates indicate that 6% of this consists of books sold online, with internet book sales worth £215m in 2003 and growing.
In its second year of trading BooksfromScotland.com plans to introduce new features including audio links to writers reading their own works, short films, dedicated space for interest groups in other art forms such as films, writing courses and advice, and dedicated space for writers and new writing.
Notes to editors
- A photocall with Richard Holloway, Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council, and author Joan Lingard will take place on Friday 2 December at the Royal Overseas League, 100 Princes Street, Edinburgh. Event starts at 11.30 am, formalities at 12 noon, photographs at 12.20 pm.
- The website address is: www.booksfromscotland.com.
- “A Review of Publishing in Scotland” was published by the Scottish Arts Council in 2004 following a consultancy project carried out in conjunction with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Napier University.
- BooksfromScotland.com will be managed by the Scottish Publishers Association and fulfilment of orders will be carried out by Gardners, the UK’s largest book wholesaler.
Contact email(s)
media.office@scottisharts.org.uk
Issued by: Scottish Arts Council
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