August 10, 2012

Sir Winston Churchill’s books are to be sold electronically for the first time later this year.

By Emma Barnett, Digital Media Editor

THE TELEGRAPH, 19 June 2012—His famous book, ‘A History of the English Speaking Peoples’, will be one of forty volumes penned by the famous politician which will be available to download.

American publishers RosettaBooks have signed the global licensing deal – which will see the statesman’s work sold in digital form around the world.

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As well as being successful in politics, Sir Winston was both a writer and painter – winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.

Volumes of his work in ebook form will cost between £5 and £6 each and the first seven will go on sale via digital books stores on July 1.

It is thought the books will be available on all popular ereaders such as Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad.

A few of Sir Winston’s other books had been digitised before, including his history of World War II. However, they had only been available in North America.

Arthur Klebanoff , RosettaBooks’ chief executive, said that Churchill’s writing was made timeless because of its sheer quality.

He said: “There are only two American figures who have done something comparable, Teddy Roosevelt who wrote 50 books and Richard Nixon who wrote around 10.

“It’s wildly unusual to have a world leader who is also a writer, especially when they were such an important figure for 60 years.

“And Churchill was an extraordinary writer. You could open one of his books at a random chapter and read it aloud and you’ll find it’s beautifully written.

‘”He didn’t just win the Nobel Prize for Literature, he won it for a good reason.”

Gordon Wise, of London-based Curtis Brown Group, who represents the Churchill estate, added: “Rosetta made a very strong commitment to the whole project, both in the start-up and for the longer term, with a highly competitive and ambitious package that we felt could not be bettered.”

A different deal has been struck to digitise Churchill’s papers currently being held at the Churchill Archive Centre in Cambridge.

Read the entire story online at The Telegraph

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