Read Jonas Karlsson 36 Ways

Bonnierförlagen author Jonas Karlsson's new short story collection Spelreglerna (Rules of the game) is being published with a particularly wide range of options. The printed collection will be joined by an e-book version, an audio book version, plus each short story will be available also separately. As an e-book, an audio book or a combination e- and audio book. Sound complicated? Not at all, says Magnus Nytell, manager for Bonnierförlagen's digital book list.

"Digital technology allows for a lot of options for book readers," says Nytell. "In the same way that music has gone from albums or CDs with a bunch of songs to the ability to buy individual songs, you can buy now a single short story rather than the whole collection."

Via the different formats and the combined e- and audio books, the reader can enjoy the collection in 36 different ways.

"We want to constantly test boundaries for what is possible within the technical boundaries," says Nytell. "The ePub format is under constant development and interactive possibilities keep increasing. As a book publisher, we need to be open for different ways of publishing and test to see how readers want their reading material."

The short stories are being marketed in close cooperation with Adlibris and the other digital retailers.

"The idea is above all about the way of publishing," says Nytell. "Instead of selling three 'products' – e-book, audio book and print book, we now have 36 products for sale. It should, in theory at least, lead to sales increases. And up until now we've sold more individual stories than if we had sold only it as a collection."