Quick Reads
Short, sharp shots of entertainment

Celebrating five years of campaigning with 10 new books by bestselling authors and a brand new look Published on World Book Day, Thursday 4th March 2010, at £1.99 each

Quick Reads – the major initiative which brings brilliantly written new books by bestselling writers and celebrities to people who have lost the reading habit, find reading tough or simply want a fast, fun read – celebrates its 5th anniversary on World Book Day, 4 March 2010. The ten new titles are announced today, Friday 2 October, together with major new branding, marketing and promotion plans.

Bestselling authors Andy McNab, Val McDermid and Cathy Kelly, together with television personalities Rolf Harris and Alvin Hall are among the authors who provide brand-new books for the 5th anniversary list.

The 5th anniversary titles are:

Last Night Another Soldier by Andy McNab (Corgi Books)
The Perfect Holiday by Cathy Kelly (HarperCollins)
The Perfect Murder by Peter James (Pan)
Doctor Who: Code of the Krillitanes by Justin Richards (BBC Books)
Hello Mum by Bernadine Evaristo (Penguin)
Money Magic: Seven Simple Steps to True Financial Freedom by Alvin Hall (Hodder)
Traitors of the Tower by Alison Weir (Vintage)
We Won the Lottery: Real Life Winner Stories by Danny Buckland (Accent Press)
Life’s Too Short: True Stories About Life at Work with foreword by Val McDermid (Bantam Books)
Buster Fleabags by Rolf Harris (Corgi Books)

The 2010 list includes action adventure from Andy McNab, love and relationships from Cathy Kelly, humorous crime from Peter James, bestselling Doctor Who from Justin Richards and a searing novel about teenage knife crime from Bernadine Evaristo. Non-fiction titles are a timely book on how to manage your money from Alvin Hall, lottery winners’ stories in conjunction with Camelot, royal murders from Alison Weir, a touching boy and dog story from Rolf Harris and an eye-opening series of true stories about life at work, introduced by Val McDermid.

Since its inception in March 2006, over one and a quarter million books have reached hundreds of thousands of new readers and helped to change the face of literacy in the UK and Ireland. It has been described as ‘one of the great success stories of the English language’ by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Gail Rebuck, Chair of Quick Reads, says: ‘The publishing industry should be extremely proud of Quick Reads’ achievements and impact over the past five years. Quick Reads has not only transformed the lives of thousands of people by improving their confidence, skills and self-esteem but also by helping them discover the joys of reading. It is vital that as an industry we continue to support Quick Reads and encourage our readers of the future.’

For its fifth anniversary and beyond, Quick Reads will continue to reach and support adults with literacy issues and to provide great, short reads for regular readers, but also aims to transform the reading patterns of C2DE adults, who have been found to consider reading irrelevant and dull as research conducted by the National Year of Reading discovered.
David from Leicestershire comments: ‘After many years of avoiding books I found myself being introduced to Quick Reads when I joined my English class. Because of my lack of confidence and ability to read even from primary school days I could never read a book or take in what the contents were about. It is only now at the age of forty that I have started to really enjoy reading.’
For 2010 Quick Reads has launched a major new design and marketing approach, rebranding the series as ‘short, sharp shots of entertainment’ with the help of marketing supremo, Damian Horner, and new designers, Unreal. Books, Quick Reads argues, can be as fast and furious as an action film, as thrilling as a theme park ride.

Marketing and promotion plans include a new digital campaign. Visitors to the Quick Reads website, which goes live today – Friday 2 October - will find a vibrant new look and new titles will be made available as downloads. A key backlist title will be made available free, for a limited period, as part of the launch promotion. Discussions are also underway for joint promotions with leading digital providers.

Quick Reads will launch a major outreach campaign to practitioners working with emergent readers, engaging over 11,000 organisations in the campaign and ensuring availability in adult education colleges, workplaces, learning centres, prisons, hospitals, stroke recovery units, dyslexia centres, care homes, community centres, family learning groups, pre-schools, projects for people whose first language is not English, organizations working with homeless people and traveller communities, and RAF bases.

Work with employers to make Quick Reads books available in staff rooms and canteens across the country will be expanded, and increasing trade support from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, WHS, Waterstones, Borders, Easons, Dubray Books, Hughes & Hughes, Amazon.co.uk, independents, wholesalers, library suppliers and more will ensure widespread distribution among supermarkets, bookshops, libraries and online.