ebooks

From this month all new eBooks from the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group– Mondadori, Rizzoli, Einaudi, Piemme, Sperling & Kupfer e Mondadori Electa – will be published in the new ePub3 format.

The Mondadori Group is the first Italian publisher to adopt the most recent international standard for all new digital publications, confirming its commitment to the development of digital publishing and the innovations demanded by the market.

The updating project was completed after a detailed analysis of the new format aimed at further improving the reading experience to make it more inclusive. In fact, the technical specifications of ePub3 make it possible to produce eBook with improved accessibility and graphics.

The new format facilitates the publication of digital text with a higher level of accessibility thanks to more precise metadata, content marking and image description, giving the visually impaired a much wider range of books that can be used with adaptive technologies, such as special keyboards and voice-overs.

This is a continuation of the Mondadori Group’s commitment to extend access to reading for people with sight impairments, to which the company has always paid special attention, also through collaboration with institutions such as the Fondazione LIA and the Fondazione Paideia on ambitious inclusion projects, such as the catalogue of accessible Italian books (https://catalogo.fondazionelia.org) and the digital books in AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication ) project ILIBRIPERTUTTI (https://www.ilibripertutti.it).

Entirely retro-compatible with all reading devices and apps, the ePub3 format will also make it possible to more easily produce books with complex graphics and augmented features, such as multi-media, interactivity and animations.

The Mondadori Group is the market leader in trade books with a total market share of 25.7%. Since 2010 Group has published the majority of its editorial products also as eBooks, with a catalogue of around 20,000 titles.

XS is a new digital series from Mondadori of short texts by great authors, available exclusively in the ebook format.
A new, fast and direct way to read. New or preview content, fiction and non-fiction, by the best known and most appreciated authors, offering the reading public a guarantee of excellent quality. A small challenge for the ebook market: while there is no shortage of short books out there, the XS Mondadori series is characterised by the choice of authors, stories or subjects, and aims to become a sort of think tank, suggesting new ways of seeing, reading and dealing with reality.
Most of the texts are previously unpublished, but there will also be little known works or preview passages from forthcoming books.
The six launch titles in the series are a mix of these different approaches: two new works (Con Picasso incasso by Francesco Bonami and 2012 Ultime notizie dalla fine del mondo by Roberto Giacobbo), two that previously appeared in Nuovi Argomenti (Pastiche proustiano in salsa biancoceleste by Alessandro Piperno and Una suora siciliana by Dacia Maraini) and two teasers for upcoming titles (E adesso facciamo il cinematografo! by Francesco Rosi with Giuseppe Tornatore and Nashira, Nascita di una ribelle by Licia Troisi).
Low, really low prices: from 0.99 cents to €1.99. Available from all major e-book stores.

Francesco Bonami
Con Picasso incasso
The irreverent art critic explains the sensational, commercial and public success of Pablo Picasso.

Roberto Giacobbo
2012 Ultime notizie dalla fine del mondo
The author of the best-selling 2012 – la fine del mondo brings us up to date with the latest news about a date that gets closer and closer, and tells us how not to be afraid.

Alessandro Piperno
Pastiche proustiano in salsa biancoceleste
The tragicomic misadventures of a Lazio fan in Rome. From Proust to Cragnotti, the story of an obsession with hilarious moments and surprising reflections.

Dacia Maraini
Una suora siciliana
An impossible encounter between two women of different ages, in a Sicily caught between nostalgia for the past and hope for the future.

Francesco Rosi with Giuseppe Tornatore
E adesso facciamo il cinematografo
A preview of the book Io lo chiamo cinematografo. Extracts from the biography of a great film director, with never before published stories, such as his first time at the Venice Film Festival.

Licia Troisi
Nascita di una ribelle
The magical story of Eshar, set in the fantasy world of the I regni di Nashira saga (the second volume of which is due out in November).

Mondadori and Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher and multimedia content company announced today from The London Book Fair that they have formed an international digital publishing partnership. Open Road will digitize, distribute and market english language versions of titles from Mondadori’s catalog starting with 50 ebooks. Mondadori is Open Road’s first foreign publishing partner and this announcement kicks off Open Road’s International Publishing Partner Program.

Jane Friedman cofounder and CEO of Open Road said: “The rise of digital publishing has made the world a smaller place and we are now able to quickly and efficiently publish translations of international books. Open Road is committed to working with international publishers to bring
works from foreign countries to a wider audience than they have ever had before. We are excited to build on the success we have enjoyed with our American partners and to start our international publishing program with Mondadori.”

“Thanks to the digital revolution,” said Maurizio Costa, deputy chairman and chief executive of the Mondadori Group, “geographical barriers are falling and the publisher is increasingly becoming also the promoter of its authors, not only at the national level, but also internationally. To publish in English the works of our most prestigious Italian authors,” Costa continued, “is a source of pride and satisfaction for Mondadori. Thanks to our commitment to digital and our partnership with Open Road, we can finally offer our authors direct access to the biggest market in the world.”

Open Road will digitally market all of the titles in the partnership. The company will create original marketing videos that will be distributed through its online platform and syndicated to content partners.
This announcement takes Open Road’s publishing partners program global. Since its launch, Open Road has worked with a variety of American publishers including MysteriousPress.com, Pegasus Books and Albert Whitman & Company.

The ebooks will be on sale globally starting this summer from Amazon.com, Apple iBookstore, BarnesandNoble.com, Google/IndieBound, Kobo Books,OverDrive, and the Sony Reader Store.

Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media. Open Road
has published ebooks from legendary authors including William Styron, Pat Conroy, Alice Walker, Jean Craighead George, Bette Greene, and Virginia Hamilton.

The Mondadori Group is among the most important publishing houses in Europe and is Italy’s biggest publisher of books through its publishing houses Edizioni Mondadori, Einaudi, Piemme and Sperling & Kupfer. Its wide-ranging production covers all market segments, including the ebook market.