Books With a Difference from Blink

From YouTube sensation Alfie Deyes to footballer Rio Ferdinand, new imprint Blink Publishing comes out with an exciting mix of authors in the U.K.

On top of the latest trends and able to publish in the blink of an eye – more or less – Blink Publishing, the new non-fiction book imprint from Bonnier Publishing in the U.K., is living up to its name with a quirky and eye-catching list of books. Blink authors range from current YouTube sensation Alfie Deyes to Buckingham Palace former press officer Dickie Arbiter – and the genesis of the imprint, soccer star Rio Ferdinand, whose memoir was put out by Bonnier Publishing to test the waters of the adult market.

“It has been a Bonnier Publishing strategy for a while to move into adult publishing and following the publication of Rio Ferdinand’s My Decade as a Red in the summer of 2013, the decision was made to create a totally different type of adult non-fiction imprint to compete against established mass-market publishing houses that had dominated the genre,” says Perminder Mann, managing director for Blink Publishing.

Launched in September 2013, the first official title came in May 2014 and nine titles have been released in 2014, with 26 titles expected for 2015.

“We have handpicked a specialist team who are responsive to current trends,” says Mann. “Blink is unlike traditional publishing houses, because we can move at real speed and for us, nothing is impossible. This has been a big win for us with agents and authors.”

With books on footballers and duchesses, a racecar driver and an X Factor star, a photographer and more, Bink’s eclectic mix has something for everyone, and the publisher tries to select projects with a big digital element.

So far, the British reading public has been eating it up.

Take the launch of Alfie Deyes' The Pointless Book, which has been No. 1 on the adult non-fiction paperback list since its release – and the accompanying app has been nominated as the Best Non-Fiction Digital Book at the 2015 FutureBook Awards. At the release of the book at Waterstones, London Piccadilly on Sept. 6, Blink expected up to 800 fans to show. “Surprisingly, over 6,000 people turned up, desperate to meet Alfie Deyes,” says Mann. “The store said they have never experienced anything like it since the Harry Potter days. David Beckham only had 1,000 turn up! The police had to close down streets in central London to control the crowds and we had police on mounted horseback brought in to help bring some order.”

Now that’s an opening!