Morberg Hits the iPad and the Newsstands

Photo: Martin Löf

Per Morberg is one of Sweden's most popular cooking celebrities, both appearing on TV4's channels as well as in books from Bonnier Fakta. Now his book Morberg jagar och lagar (Morberg hunts and cooks) has come out in an edition for the iPad. And next week a new magazine called Magasin Morberg will hit the newsstands.

"Per Morberg's books have been hugely successful and Per is very popular," says Sara Nyström, literary manager at Bonnier Fakta. "Morberg jagar och lagar has been a success as well, with a language style and photos that work well on an iPad."

The author himself is happy with the book. "As the reactionary that I am, I was suprised that the photos are even better in the iPad and that the way of leafing through the book made the connections between the seasons so impressive," says Morberg.

The book app was developed in cooperation with Bonnier Tidskrifter and made on the Mag+ platform.

"Some types of books are perfect for the template," says Nyström. "In this case, the book's style and format has been the basis for how the app should look."

But who will buy the app and how are they different from other readers of the book? "The iPad has just come to Sweden and so far we don't know so much about the buyers," says Magnus Nytell, responsible for digital development at book publisher Bonnierförlagen, the parent company of Bonnier Fakta. "But we can assume that app buyers are different from book buyers, since it's a completely different way of consuming and reading. You should also keep in mind that we have a target group that are early adopters and not the usual book buying public."

As for the new Magasin Morberg, which will launch next week, it will be published four times yearly and already has 5,000 subscribers. The magazine is produced in cooperation with Spoon, a part of Bonnier Tidskrifter, with Spoon Lab's Jonathan Leijonberg as editor-in-chief and Lars Frank as publisher.

And Per Morberg is happy with the results: "I believe we'll see good sales even at the newsstand," he says.

The first issue will feature a range of stories both from Sweden and internationally. "Per and his wife Inese are featured in ​​a hunting story in Stora Sundby, we also have a story on weekend farmer Rupert Newton of New York who works weekdays at an ad agency," says Frank. "You can also read more about the 'heritage' fashion trend and how you can use birch sap as a raw material in your next gourmet meal."