Bookspotting

Shortlisted for a FutureBook Innovation Award 2014 for best use of digital in a marketing campaign.

A free app which links books and authors to dates, themes and distinct locations around Scotland, Bookspotting was launched in March 2014. It is a tool for discovering Scottish-interest books - from old favourites to the latest reads - making the most of the functions built in to the smartphone in your pocket. It features a host of titles with a strong connection to a place, a landscape, an island, or a city in Scotland, and using GPS technology geo-locates a wide range of books - fiction, children's, history, humour, Gaelic, Scots, and travel - even when your phone or tablet isn't online.

Bookspotting, a collaboration between Publishing Scotland in Edinburgh and Saraband Books and Spot Specific in Glasgow, was funded by NESTA's Research and Development Fund over its six months of development in conjunction with Creative Scotland. Drawing on book data supplied by Bibliographical Data Services in Dumfries, the app features over 3500 books of Scottish interest and links them to character, place, setting, author, date and theme.

The principal aim of the app is to get people discovering and reading great Scottish books. The developers also hope to promote wider access to literature, find new audiences for Scottish writers, celebrate Scotland's unique literary heritage, update the image of Scotland's vibrant publishing industry and support cultural tourism around all regions.

The app is free to download from the App Store and in the Android version from Google Play.

Bookspotting was shortlisted for a prestitigious FutureBook Innovation Award 2014 for best use of digital in a marketing campaign. See The Bookseller 9 October 2014 for details.

Marion Sinclair, Publishing Scotland's Chief Executive, comments:

"Publishers are increasingly coming up with new ideas to promote their titles digitally as the reading habit shifts more and more online and onto portable devices. This new app offers a guide to some of the more iconic places in Scotland and their literary connections. This is the place to discover the connection between Jules Verne and Oban, or between Mary Shelley and Dundee, and a guide to the independent bookshop that's nearest to you."

Sara Hunt of Saraband Books comments:

"As an independent publisher we do our best to be innovative to help readers find our books, whether in bookshops or via digital means. It's been exciting to get involved in such a large-scale challenge covering so many Scottish books and authors, and another fruitful collaboration with our tech partner, Spot Specific."

Jenny Niven, Portfolio Manager of Literature, Publishing and Languages, at Creative Scotland said:

"We're delighted to have been able to support the development of Bookspotting. It's a little treasure trove - a miniature storehouse of literally thousands of Scottish books, their authors and how to find them compressed into one tidy little app. It's brilliant to see Scottish work presented digitally in such an accessible and comprehensive way, and the simplicity and cleanliness of the design make it really a pleasure to use.

The collaboration of Publishing Scotland, Saraband and Spot Specific is also a brilliant example of organisations bringing their different areas of focus and expertise together to create something unique and innovative. It comes at a great time too - as publishers strive to find new ways of working in the digital age it's great to have tangible Scottish examples of useful digital books projects."

Lorna Edwards, Programme Manager in Scotland for Nesta said:

"We are delighted that the fantastic work that Publishing Scotland's have been doing on the Bookspotting App is paying off.  This project shows the kind of amazing results that can be generated through successful partnership between technology companies and the creative sector.

Over the past two years, Nesta's Digital R&D Fund for the Arts in Scotland has funded a total of 10 projects such as Publishing Scotland's Bookspotting App to help creative organisations use new technology to increase revenue and attract new audiences.  The ideas we have supported are developing the new ideas that will allow Scotland's arts and culture sector to continue to thrive in the future."