Ether Books launched at the London International Bookfair 2010 as a new concept in portable publishing, offering short stories, essays and poetry by new and established authors. The aim is to connect mobile users to their favourite authors using a ‘quick-to-read’ format.
The launch content included an exclusive essay by Sir Paul McCartney called Meat Free Mondays, new works by award-winning writers including Hilary Mantel, Alexander McCall Smith, Lionel Shriver, Louis de Bernières and Matthew Kneale, an essay on censorship by Iranian novelist Arash Hejazi, and four unpublished short stories by Hanif Kureishi.
There are over 200 entries on the iPhone app at launch including five poems by T S Eliot prize winner Philip Gross, crime short stories by Bram Stoker and fiction from new talent Vanessa Lafaye.
Available initially as an application for iPhones and iPod Touch devices, Ether Books is targeting busy professionals who rely heavily on mobile devices.
Ether Books enables readers to browse, buy and build a personal library on the move. The Ether Books app lets you search by genre or author, read a story synopsis, scan the first page and access author websites, Twitter and Facebook pages.