Friday, August 22, 2008

A MAN BOOKER FIRST-
FREE MOBILE DOWNLOADS

For four decades the Man Booker Prize has been at the forefront of all that’s best in literary fiction. This year, for the first time in its history, the prize is embracing new technology with extracts from the shortlisted books being made immediately available upon the shortlist announcement via the latest mobile phone technology.

This is the first time that any book prize has used mobile technology to promote its shortlist. The Man Booker Prize has exclusively partnered with mobile site GoSpoken, launched this April at the London International Book Fair, to make the shortlist extracts available to download for free.

This year’s shortlist will be announced on 9th September, at which point the public will be able to text MBP to 60300 in order to download a free extract either to read as text or listen to as audio. If the reader enjoys the extract, they can then use their mobile phone to either purchase a hard copy of the book, to be delivered directly to their door, or download the full audio version, if available. The cost will be added to the reader’s mobile phone bill.

GoSpoken.com is a unique mobile platform which can be accessed by anybody with a mobile phone or Internet access. It allows you to search, try, buy and enjoy books in audio and text.

Bestselling author Andy McNab, a partner in GoSpoken, comments: “I’m a great fan of audiobooks and passionate about bringing them to a wider audience. The immediacy of the spoken word really transports you to another world through your headphones. GoSpoken will revolutionise audiobooks - being able to download them to your mobile, wherever you are, means you will never be bored again.”

Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of The Booker Prize Foundation, comments: “After forty years making the headlines in the literary world, it is good that the Man Booker Prize is now also taking a lead in the world of new technology.”

The extracts will also be available via: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/.

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