Bastei Lübbe, VEMAG and VideoDays establish joint publishing house for social media influencers

Bastei Lübbe, VEMAG and VideoDays establish
joint publishing house for social media influencers

Cologne, June 28, 2016. The two media companies VEMAG and Bastei Lübbe as well as Christoph Krachten and VideoDays, one of the world's largest YouTube fan events, will be working closely together. Going by the name of Community Editions, they have founded a joint publishing house for individuals known as social media influencers. The new label will publish and market the works, including books, by renowned YouTube artists. "First of all, the start-up's goal is to reintroduce books as a medium of information to a young audience. Secondly, we want to help trendsetters, most of whom only have a digital presence, discover books as an additional distribution channel. That way, digital influencers can expand their range and target groups", explains Thomas Schierack, CEO of Bastei Lübbe AG. "If you like, you can say we are creating a new interface between the old and the new media universe", Schierack adds.

There are already plans for specific projects. ""In terms of selection of topics we will use Community Editions to cover a broad range of subjects which addresses the topics available for the social media influencer", explains Holger Schneider, CEO of VEMAG Verlags- und Medien AG. In particular, the agenda includes content in the areas of lifestyle, beauty and do-it-yourself in addition to gaming and sports. "The books are meant to satisfy the expectations of fans as well as those kinds of readers not previously reached by the author", Schneider continues. The first books by artists and influencers are in the works and expected to be released in the spring of 2017. "With this label, we are hitting on the nerve of a huge fan base who want something lasting from their idols to hold in their hands. Influencers represent content that an audience not necessarily made up of digital natives finds appealing," says VideoDays general manager Christoph Krachten, summarising the publisher's goals.

"With Community Editions, we want to leverage the synergies of three of the German media industry's strongest companies," says Bastei Lübbe CEO, Thomas Schierack. Bastei Lübbe AG is the leading publisher of novels, youth literature and non-fiction, marketing works that include best-sellers by star authors like Ken Follett, Dan Brown and Jeff Kinney. VEMAG Verlags- und Medien AG specialises in every market outside of the book trade but sells books internationally in particular in high-traffic areas in food retailing. With the combined marketing strength of the two publishing groups, the books released by the newly founded company will have a chance at the best possible placement in every channel. VideoDays, in turn, will ensure that the books published by Community Editions will receive maximum visibility and attention of its YouTube target group.

With Daniel Prelinger as general manager, together with Lucas Lüdemann and Yasmin Reddig, Community Editions combines the long-term market experience with the online expertise necessary to blend the needs of influencers in the digital world with those of the publishing world. As a rule, Community Editions places importance on close collaboration with its authors and on a creative production process for its books that includes social media activities. Klaus Kluge, member of the Bastei Lübbe Management Board in charge of programme and marketing, emphasises, however, that the books are not intended to be mere personality publications. "As in our publishing houses' traditional programmes, we will stay true to our motto even with Community Editions: First and foremost, our focus is always on providing high-quality content."

About Bastei Lübbe AG:
Bastei Lübbe AG is an international media group based in Cologne. The business operations focus on the development and licensing of content distributed worldwide physically and digitally. The company's core business includes the traditional publishing business and the periodical puzzle magazines and novel booklets in the "Book" segment. With its twelve publishers and imprints, the group of companies currently offers approximately 3,600 titles in fiction, non-fiction and books for children and young adults. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction, the company has been the market leader in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is driving innovation in the field of digital media. As well as the production of thousands of audio and e-books, the "Digital" segment also includes holdings in the self-publishing platform "BookRix" and the renowned games publisher "Daedalic Entertainment". Bastei Lübbe AG's value chain is completed by the investment in the online shop "beam-ebooks.de" and the new and internationally unique streaming platform "oolipo". The investments Daedalic, BookRix, oolipo, Beam Store, JV US and Bastei Media are bundled in the Holding company "Bastei Ventures GmbH", since January 2016.
With currently 334 employees and an annual turnover of roughly EUR 110.2 million (financial year 2014/2015), Bastei Lübbe AG is the largest medium-sized family company in the German publishing industry. Since 2013, the company's shares have been listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0). Further information is available at www.luebbe.de.

About VEMAG Verlags- und Medien AG
VEMAG is a medium-sized, international publishing group. For over 30 years, it has stood for innovative and high-quality printed and digital media that are successfully published in Germany and abroad in as many as 30 languages. As part of its business activities, VEMAG publishes cook books, children's books, crafts, non-fiction, and illustrated books as well as digital media, audio books, hobby and crafting articles devoted to an enormous range of topics and for every age group. For several decades, the publisher's products have been leading in the promotions business of food retailers in Germany and abroad. Many titles also appear as e-books or apps or are supplemented with digital content.

About Christoph Krachten and VideoDays
By coming up with the idea for VideoDays, Christoph Krachten has created one of the most successful youth culture events of our time. He has been organising one of the world's largest gathering of YouTube fans in Cologne, which began as part of the Gamescom convention, since 2011. Since 2013, roughly ten thousand devotees have been meeting and celebrating their stars at the LANXESS Arena in Cologne. Having spent a number of years working as a TV journalist and producer for German channels like WDR and RTL, Christoph Krachten was one of the first professional creators of media in Germany to realise the potential of online video. He has been hosting an online show called Clixoom since 2009. Christoph Krachten is also a founder of Mediakraft Networks, one of the first online video networks in Europe, advising and producing numerous successful YouTube channels.

Contact: Bastei Lübbe AG:
Barbara Fischer
Head of Public Relations
Tel.: 0221 / 82 00 28 50
E-mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de