Inaugural New Zealand Book Month Was a Hit!

18 SEPTEMBER – 15 OCTOBER 2006

Media Release: For immediate release
Date: 13 October 2006

Inaugural New Zealand Book Month Was a Hit!

New Zealand Book Month ends this Sunday 15th October with The Six Pack anthology topping the Booksellers New Zealand Bestsellers List for New Zealand Fiction, and organisers extremely satisfied with the Month’s impact.

Project Director of NZ Book Month, Phil Twyford, said that as well as the success of The Six Pack, the month-long celebration of NZ books and writers reached hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders through strong media coverage and a $270,000 radio and newspaper advertising campaign. Posters and leaflets featured in over 300 bookshops and 700 libraries around the country. www.nzbookmonth.co.nz received over 40,000 visits and more than 1000 people attended events during the Month.

Phil Twyford says, “New Zealanders have responded with great enthusiasm to the first NZ Book Month. The success of our new anthology, The Six Pack, demonstrates there’s a hunger out there for New Zealand stories and that there’s a lot about our authors and writing to celebrate. We intend to make NZ Book Month an important item on New Zealand’s cultural calendar and the planning for next year’s Book Month is already underway. ”

Twyford said the future of NZ Book Month was looking bright with the Government making a three-year $300,000 Ministry of Economic Development grant aimed at supporting the book publishing industry. The inaugural Month was also supported by sponsorship from the Internet shopping portal Ferrit, Creative NZ, funding from the book trade, and sales of The Six Pack.

Twyford believes that the Month has put the spotlight on New Zealand writers and introduced many thousands of Kiwis to the delights of New Zealand books.

The Six Pack anthology, published by NZ Book Month has sold more than 6000 copies and is currently Number One on the Booksellers New Zealand Bestsellers List for New Zealand Fiction. Total sales are expected to reach 15,000. Another 10,000 copies have been distributed free to secondary schools, public libraries, and New Zealand families through a partnership with Books in Homes.

Next year's Book Month is already in the planning stages and next month will see the call for entries into The 2007 Six Pack Competition.

ENDS

http://www.nzbookmonth.co.nz

NZ Book Month is sponsored by ferrit.co.nz
And supported by Books in Homes, Booksellers New Zealand, Creative New Zealand, Dymocks, empire PR, Hachette Livre, Harper Collins, Mainfreight, Ministry of Economic Development, More FM, New Holland, NZ Book Council, Paper Plus, Penguin Group, Random House, Reed Books, Sunday Star-Times and Whitcoulls.

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