Wall Street Journal | Jeffrey Trachtenberg | June 18, 2012
Winston Churchill's body of published work is going fully digital.
E-book publisher RosettaBooks LLC has struck a deal with Mr. Churchill's estate to publish nearly all of the legendary British prime minister's writings, including his speeches, the first time most of the titles have been available digitally.
Mr. Churchill, a prolific writer, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values." Forty titles will be available for sale by the spring of next year, said RosettaBooks Chief Executive Arthur Klebanoff.
The agreement will make the e-books available in English globally, a change from the standard publishing deal which is negotiated on a country-by-country basis where books are available in some countries well before others. That highlights a shift in the publishing industry, as the emergence of digital publishing and retailing makes it much easier for a book to be offered globally at the same time.
“Leave the past to history especially as I propose to write that history myself.”
