UK traffic increases nearly 5 times over summer 2015 as British turn-up the volume on sound-tracked books.
Total UK Readers has increased 13 times since July
UK now the second biggest market for Booktrack, and five out of the ten most read books on the platform are from UK authors.
65% of UK users visit booktrack.com via mobile – highest among all countries
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Booktrack (www.booktrack.com), the first company to enrich the eBook experience by adding movie-style soundtracks and ambient sound while you read, today announces a partnership with London-based digital publisher, Canelo (www.canelo.co) and the integration of Sony DADC’s User Rights Management Solution to enable Booktrack to provide a flexible open standard content protection system for eBooks.
Canelo, which produces high-quality eBooks joins the Booktrack platform, launching out-of-the-gate with two titles, the gripping thriller The Ghost Shift by Financial Times columnist and associate editor, John Gapper, and the mystery Mrs. Hudson and the Spirits’ Curse by Martin Davies – both titles will be available for sale from Booktrack.com in the new year.
This partnership follows the recent announcement of content deals in other international markets with publishers such as SourceBooks, RosettaBooks, the Nelson Literary Agency, Orca Publishers and Mighty Media Press.
Booktrack is also adding the renowned and bestselling, London based self-published author, A.D. Starrling, to the platform. A.D. Starrling is the author of the award-winning series Seventeen, and her books Soul Meaning, King’s Crusade and First Death are now available, complete with movie-style soundtracks, to download on Booktrack. Five further A.D. Starrling works are to be released over the next few months.
The UK is the second biggest market for Booktrack, representing over 15% of its overall traffic. Interest from the UK has increased significantly in 2015, with a significant increase in traffic from the UK over the last two quarters. Nearly 70 percent of UK users use Booktrack via mobile devices, the highest percentage of all markets (US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).
“We are excited to launch in the UK market especially given the considerable Booktrack growth from mobile users in the UK proving that eReading is continuing to grow across smartphones and tablets. We are particularly pleased with the popularity for the Booktrack concept of movie-style soundtracks for books in the UK, and as more people become familiar with the Booktrack experience, we expect to grow our portfolio of UK based publishers and self-published authors even further,” says Paul Cameron, CEO and Co-founder, Booktrack.
Currently the top three books in the UK on Booktrack are the Sherlock Holmes Stories, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and In the South by Salman Rushdie. Interestingly, five out of ten books on Booktrack are from UK authors.
Booktrack’s proposition is simple. By mapping a soundtrack to the story, the digital book becomes an immersive reading experience keeping the reader engaged for longer. In the same way music changed the film industry, Booktrack is confident that the future of reading will involve a contextual and synchronized soundtrack played in harmony with the story delivered.
Featuring an engaged community of more than 2.5 million users worldwide, Booktrack offers over 16,000 titles in 30 different languages, across all genres of reading. Globally available, Booktrack is used in more than 150 countries and has proven to increase reading comprehension by 17%, retention by 30% and satisfaction and enjoyment by 35%.*
BOOKTRACK STUDIO
Booktrack Studio offers free tools to publishers, authors and self-publishers to create and add soundtracks to their own work by blending and choreographing text and sound together as a Booktrack. Anyone can easily soundtrack their books, using Booktrack’s free studio tools and sell to a community of over 2.5 million engaged readers. Writers and musicians can easily embed music, ambient audio and sound effects into their story from a database of more than 20,000 audio files that will play in sync with the storyline, paced to each individual’s reading speed—a world’s first.
CONTINUOUSLY ENHANCING THE PUBLISHING TOOLKIT
Booktrack’s recently launched Monetization Functionality is the company’s latest enhancement and is an unparalleled opportunity for publishers and authors to expand their reach and sales. Booktrack also recently launched Booktrack Embed, providing writers and book marketers the ability to embed a full-featured Booktrack title, complete with soundtrack, into any website — just like dropping in a YouTube video.
Follow Booktrack on FaceBook and Twitter. To learn more about Booktrack’s new monetization and embeddable functionalities, please visit: https://promo.booktrack.com/self-publish and http://support.booktrack.com/hc/en-us/articles/204022514-New-Booktrack-Embed-Option.
* Evidence-based Educational Outcomes in Literacy from the University of Auckland New Zealand and NYU
About Booktrack
Booktrack (www.booktrack.com) is an industry leading global technology company that synchronizes movie-style soundtracks and ambient sounds to eBooks. Music, ambient audio, and sound effects are automatically paced to an individual’s reading speed and synchronized to complement and enhance the story while a person reads increasing comprehension and enjoyment. Over 2.5 million readers get instant access to thousands of stories, while authors and publishers can easily create their own Booktrack titles by matching their stories to an extensive library of over 20,000 free-to-use music and ambient audio tracks.
Backed by investors including Peter Thiel and Weta Digital, with offices in San Francisco, CA, Auckland, NZ, Hong Kong and Toronto, Canada, Booktrack is a disruptive force in the publishing and audio world, equivalent to how the introduction of sound transformed the experience of film forever. The Booktrack application is available from www.booktrack.com and in the Apple App Store, Google Play and Google Chrome Stores.
About Sony DADC
Sony DADC is a leading disc and digital solution provider offering world-class optical media replication services, digital and physical supply chain solutions and software services. The company’s network consists of service offices, optical media production, distribution and digital facilities in 19 countries worldwide.
About Canelo
Canelo (www.canelo.co) is a new London-based publisher, dedicated to finding the most exciting fiction and non-fiction for release as eBooks, apps and on the web. Its founders – previously eBook publishers, developers, marketers, and business managers – are committed to producing the highest quality of digital content while also rewarding writers with higher royalty rates. Their books include bestselling military thrillers from Will Jordan, acclaimed psychological suspense from debut author Meg Carter, and a brilliant new satirical novel by comedy legend Eric Idle.
Media Contact:
Wendy Zaas / Amy Pandya
Rogers & Cowan
310.480.0049 / 310.854.8262
[email protected] / [email protected]
