The 17 books shortlisted for the 2023 Orwell Prizes (political fiction and political writing) are available as fully-searchable digital previews through the Orwell Foundation’s partnership with publisher services platform Exact Editions. The virtual showcase, powered by the platform’s Reading Rooms for Books technology, features previews of each book organised into two collections based on which prize they are shortlisted for, along with an accompanying direct shop link where print copies can be purchased.
Each year, the Orwell Foundation awards prizes to the writing and reporting which best meets the spirit of George Orwell's own ambition 'to make political writing into an art’. The shortlists this year include Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking Books), Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen by Peter Apps (Oneworld Publications) and The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule by Angela Saini (Harper Collins).
The Reading Rooms for Books platform allows book prizes to invite publishers to be part of virtual book showcases, added the company. The publishers themselves can decide how much of the book to make available to preview, whilst the book prize can decide for how long they want access to the showcase to last. The Orwell Foundation are integrating this publisher-managed marketing platform as part of their strategy in the build-up to the awards ceremony on the 22nd of June.
James Tookey, book prize administrator, said: “The books are intuitively and vibrantly displayed on the Exact Editions’ platform and provide the perfect way for readers to get a taste of the importance of the political titles that make up the shortlists.”
Daryl Rayner, managing director of Exact Editions, said: “Showcasing the Orwell Prize’s impressive shortlists virtually adds a new dimension to the marketing and publicity possibilities available to the Foundation. The time-limited functionality of the platform in particular lends itself to events that span a specific window of time, such as book prizes.”
Click here to view The Orwell Prize Shortlists 2023: Virtual Book Showcase (available until 22nd June 2023).
You can find out more about Exact Editions in our Publishing Services Directory.
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