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With lockdown biting hard in the bookselling business, publisher Melinda Ferguson was determined not to just sit by and watch. Shortly before the first lockdown, Prof Pumla Dineo Gqola joked on the publisher’s WhatsApp group about writing a ‘coronavirus book’, and so the idea was born: all 17 writers on the group were challenged by Ferguson to deliver material within 10 days, which within hours turned into 7 days.

‘It was crazy. Everyone agreed. I’m not sure how that happened because there were a few real dawdlers in that group. Next thing copy was coming in and I just started editing furiously, briefing a cover and throwing crazy deadlines at the NB teams, who were all working from home and trying to make sense of my hysterical demands.’

Ferguson says she would like to believe Lockdown, The Corona Chronicles is the fastest book in history. On Monday 30 March, just 7 days after President Ramaphosa’s announcement, the edited and proofed manuscript was sent for layout. The e-book went live that weekend and immediately shot to number 1 in New Releases in Amazon’s Globalisation section.

Coming off a creativity high, Ferguson immediately decided to do another one: ‘The first book had simply sprung to life in a very organic way. Lindiwe Hani always says, tongue in cheek of course, “I was at the wrong place at the wrong time”. So I spent a few hours jotting down a dream list of authors I could approach. This was a few days before the President announced that Lockdown had been extended. I inboxed Fred Khumalo first and within minutes he agreed, he seemed so excited. Next thing I had Sisonke Msimang, Lebo Mashile, Chris Du Plessis, Khaya Dlanga, Siya Khumalo, Ferial Haffajee, Prof Gqola , Rahla Xenopoulos, Haji Mohamed Dawjee – all saying yes! Within 24 hours I had 30 authors and then I started getting calls and mails from a whole bunch of other authors who had heard about the book. I literally had to fend off writers.’

Lockdown Extended went live during the Freedom Day long weekend. Ferguson calls its production a ‘most generous and beautiful process’, and a much calmer one than that of the first book. She sees it as a way for writers to fight back against the idea of irrelevance, driven by a need to make sense of our lives in this time.

What does it mean for the future? Ferguson is certain the industry will need to adapt, and do so quickly: ‘This kind of flash publishing has kept me as a publisher so engaged and I have managed to create a vessel for around 40 authors in three weeks to translate this hectic time into something meaningful and historical. It’s amazing what can be achieved in a week.’

Is this the end of print books? Ferguson does not think so, but passionately believes publishers should start gravitating readers to digital format: ‘Besides getting totally inspired by working with all these amazing writers on both books, my main motivation for doing the Lockdown books has been to try and introduce a traditionally print-buying book reader to e-books. I kept the pricing really low, R100 for Book 1 and R140 for Book 2. I know of many new readers who bought their first e-book ever on Kobo when Lockdown, The Corona Chronicles went live. So I think it’s working. These are very worrying times, but they are also times for opportunity and thinking of new ways to keep our industry alive.’

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