fast-paced plots, written by some of Harlequin’s best-selling authors. The ebooks will have both the Cosmopolitan and Harlequin logos on their covers.
Meanwhile, to commemorate the
150th anniversary of the American Civil War, The Atlantic compiled in a single ebook entitled The Civil War some of the most compelling stories from its archives, including work by Twain, James, Stowe, Douglass, Hawthorne, and Alcott, American literary icons all.
The Atlantic had such success
with The Civil War that the editors subsequently created two more ebooks in 2012: The Best Writing from The Atlantic’s Technology Channel, a collection of the best work of senior editor Alexis Madrigal and others released in December 2012,
Cosmopolitan has been releasing e-books
about sex and relationships since last year, publishing 14 so far, but Cosmo Sexy Stories is the first collection of original fiction from the magazine’s writers.
Group publishing director Ella Dolphin
said: “As the world’s biggest women’s magazine brand, Cosmopolitan has a long history of publishing fiction which our readers love to get lost in. This collection is the first of many written specifically for the Cosmo girl to consumer on whichever device she chooses.”
This follows the news that Cosmopolitan in the US is linking up with romance publisher Harlequin for an e-book partnership. The partnership will see the companies two titles every month from May 2013, with each title about 30,000 words long. The range will be called Cosmo Red Hot Reads from Harlequin, and will present independent, adventurous women in contemporary settings with
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and The Obama Presidency, Explained by James Fallows released in August, 2012.
Like Cosmopolitan, The Atlantic
sees no reason to stop now. “We’re planning a lot more on this score, including original long-form content,” Madrigal told Digital Book World.
Cosmo and The Atlantic are just
two of the many, many publishers diving into e-singles in 2012.
In early 2012, Penguin UK and The
Economist partnered on an e-singles series called Penguin Economist Specials focusing on topics ranging from work and digital technology to video games and women, and all composed of work previously published in The Economist.
Hearst continued its aggressive e-singles publishing strategy, using them to “upsell to our other products,” Hearst