Taxi app Hailo and publisher Penguin Random House UK are teaming up to create a mini mobile library – by placing free books in Hailo black cabs this week as well as audiobook extracts in the Hailo app for Londoners to enjoy.
Launching their partnership to coincide with World Book Night on the 23rd April, Hailo and Penguin Random House UK are encouraging more of us to use our travel time to enjoy an amazing story or be inspired by an idea instead of flicking through emails while rushing to meetings or travelling to the airport.
Passengers will have access to a range of fiction and non-fiction books from World Book Night title The Martian by Andy Weir to Arianna Huffington’s Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. Aspiring business minds can also learn a few lessons from superstar entrepreneur, Richard Branson, with an audio extract from his book Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons in Life and Business available in the Hailo app.
As part of the scheme, one audiobook extract will be available via the Hailo app every day between Thursday 23rd April and Monday 27th April. Eagle-eyed passengers will be able to discover and enjoy physical books in the back of their Hailo cabs this week.
As part of the initiative, the lucky passengers to find the physical books are allowed to take them home to read but will be encouraged to return the books on their next journey with Hailo for others to enjoy.
Passengers will also be encouraged to share their reading experience from the back of the cab on social media using #BlackCabBooks.
The full list of Penguin Random House UK titles available through the #BlackCabBooks experiment is:
Queen’s Gambit, Elizabeth Fremantle
Dead Man Talking, Roddy Doyle
The Martian, Andy Weir
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers
Thrive, Arianna Huffington
The Chimp Paradox, Prof Steve Peters
Stuffocation, James Wallman
Honour, Elif Shafak
Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons in Life and Business, Richard Branson
Gary Bramall, Chief Marketing Officer, Hailo, said:
Our core mission is to improve travel and make life better for our customers. We believe in the joy of reading, something many of us don’t get the time to do in our busy lives. We’re really proud to be able to offer free books to our passengers thanks to our friends at Penguin Random House UK.
Ruth Spencer, Acting Head of Digital Marketing and Partnerships, Penguin Random House UK, added:
We are always looking for innovative new ways to help readers discover our incredible range of authors. As a generation, we’ve never been more connected and as a business we’re working harder than ever to capture our audience’s attention. We hope this experiment will help us connect our authors with as many readers as possible without them having to move a muscle and encourage people to spend more time enjoying the stories, ideas and writing that matter.
Rose Goddard, Project Manager for World Book Night said:
At The Reading Agency we believe that everything changes when we read, and World Book Night is a crucial part of the work we do to encourage those who may not already read to begin their own reading journey. We’re very happy that Hailo and Penguin Random House UK will be sharing some brilliant books with people who might not otherwise encounter them on World Book Night, and along with our huge network of volunteers will be helping to inspire countless reading journeys as these stories are shared and passed on.