
South African bookworms rejoice! Bookchoice – the ‘Netflix of books’ – is finally on our shores. Now it’s as easy to get a great book as it is to stream a series. For R50 a month, you can receive a monthly delivery of eight curated ebooks and audiobooks, handpicked by a team of industry experts. The membership based-service will make you feel like you’re part of a real-life book club, exposing you to top local and international authors to fast-track decision-making and add an element of discovery.
We all know that feeling of delight when a parcel arrives. There’s that sense of suspense as you rip the box open to expose the unknown contents inside. Bringing that excitement to the digital sphere is what Bookchoice is all about. Nathan Hull, Chief Commercial and Content Officer at Bookchoice says, “Our mission is to provide a simple, affordable platform and app that helps people fall in love with reading again. We know South Africans are spending more and more time on smartphones. So we make good books just a couple of clicks away. That way, it’s as easy to make reading a daily habit as it is to browse Instagram or watch YouTube.”
The service is currently available in Holland, the UK, Australia and SA. Recognising a gap in the SA market, the Bookchoice team hope to reinforce reading as part of South African culture by providing a platform that’s accessible and convenient. Currently, SA has what’s been described as a reading crisis. Africa Check cited that the latest studies show only 25% of the adult population regularly read books. The statistics on children are not much better – the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy (PRILS) found 78% of SA fourth year primary school pupils could not read for meaning.
Bookchoice is also hoping to support the SA book scene by introducing a leading local author on a monthly basis.
“We’re excited to be partnering with SA publishing houses to include a well-known local ebook or audiobook in each month’s book delivery. For Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday in July, we included I Remember Nelson Mandela in our selection. This touching biography is a compilation of insights from those who knew the legend best,” says Hull.
Going forward, top African authors like Kopano Matlwa, Rosamund Kendal and Panashe Chigumadzi will be featured alongside international favourites like Lynda La Plante, Jonas Jonasson and Stuart Macbride.
“It’s very important for us to feature standout local authors. SA is a talent incubator for some of the world’s best – and often most underappreciated – writers. So we hope to help shine a spotlight on the abundant talent emerging in the country and the greater African continent,” Hull continues.
The selection covers a range of genres and titles to suit readers’ different moods and enable them to find new gems. This helps bookworms to break free of a ‘reading rut’ and uncover new favourite authors. Like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wilbur Smith, Heather Morris, Arundhati Roy, Kazuo Ishiguro and Sebastian Barry – all big names who have been included in the past. Additionally, it takes away the stress of having to pick a book from a shelf of hundreds of titles.
Hull says, “Finding a good book usually takes time. To help people fall back in love with reading, we realised we needed to simplify the process. Our ‘Netflix model for books’ achieves this and it has proven extremely popular. We’re able to provide the latest titles from leading authors for an incredibly affordable price – in SA, only R50 a month. That’s eight premium ebooks and eight audiobooks for the price of a burger!”
So how does Bookchoice work?
You simply pop onto the site, sign up for the service for just R50 a month, and then get all-inclusive access to the selection of the month – eight ebooks and eight audiobooks you can download directly to your phone, Kindle or a wealth of other devices. Once you’ve downloaded the book to your device, it’s yours to keep forever. Users can also download the Bookchoice app for even faster access to their books when they’re on the go.
Titles to look forward to this September are:
Michelle McNamara I’ll be Gone in the Dark / ebook
Mhairi McFarlane Who’s that Girl / ebook and audiobook
Allison Pearson How Hard Can It Be? / ebook and audiobook
Andrew K. Miller Dub Steps / ebook
Luke Kennard The Transition / ebook and audiobook
Jim Crace Harvest / audiobook
Adrian Barnes Nod / ebook
Sally Andrew Recipes for Love and Murder / audiobook
Caitlin Davies Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World / ebook and audiobook
JM Green Good Money / audiobook
Clyde Brolin In the Zone / ebook and audiobook
You can try out the service right now! Bookchoice is offering a free one month trial. Simply email support@bookchoice.com with “Bookmark” in the subject line. The trial is available until 31 December 2018.