The HybridBook project is an innovative publishing program that takes the concept of the enhanced ebook and integrates it with print media.

Each book in the HybridBook program features not only the core text of the novel, but  extensive additional material rendered in digital form—the Melville House Illuminations. The Illuminations consist of highly curated text, maps, photographs and illustrations related to the original book.

The Melville House Illuminations are free with the purchase of any title in the HybridBook series, no matter the format.

Just look for the logo: 

>>> For the Hybrid Book press release, click here.

Currently Illuminated Titles:

EVERY MAN DIES ALONE by Hans Fallada

LITTLE MAN, WHAT NOW? by Hans Fallada

WOLF AMONG WOLVES by Hans Fallada

THE DRINKER by Hans Fallada

THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ by F. Scott Fitzgerald

THE DISTRACTED PREACHER by Thomas Hardy

ALEXANDER’S BRIDGE, by Willa Cather

FANFARLO, by Charles Baudelaire

THE ALIENIST, by Machado de Assis

THE ENCHANTED WANDERER by Nikolai Leskov

BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER by Herman Melville

THE DUEL by Giacomo Casanova

THE DUEL by Anton Chekhov

THE DUEL by Joseph Conrad

THE DUEL by Heinrich von Kleist

THE DUEL by Alexander Kuprin

— and more on the way …

Sample HybridBook page from Casanova’s The Duel

Testimonials from Booksellers: 

“[Melville House is] is as fiercely supportive of independent bookstores as they are creative.”—Politics and Prose

“The Hybrid Book is a perfect example of Melville House’s forward-thinking, inventive publishing program. It lets the physical book take center stage while providing amazing, free digital content to enhance the reading experience. I look forward to telling our customers about this fantastic new technology, as well as working with the folks at Melville House to come up with more innovative ways to keep reading relevant and vital.”—WORD Bookstore

“Melville House’s new series of HybridBooks is just useful. Why simply read books about duels when I can also be linked to the actual codes of dueling? Now I can enjoy a good tale and know exactly how I should comport myself while being stabbed to death by a man in short pants. Thanks, Melville House!”—McNally Jackson

Read more about HybridBooks in the news: 

“On the physical side, the Hybrids are attractive, stripped-down paperbacks, with nothing inside but a short classic text…”—The New York Times

“Hybrid books take the best of both formats…”The Guardian (UK)

“Welcome to the Future.”—The New York Observer

“Independent publisher Melville House combines a commitment to quality and provocative literature with a bold, even swashbuckling approach to marketing and promotion.”Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal 

“Someone in the publishing industry is finally taking steps to salvage the book stores by offering something reading consumers can get within the walls.”—Good E-Reader

“A value-added component to help market…print books.”—Publisher’s Weekly

“The HybridBooks provide booksellers with an added-value bargain for their customers, and provides readers of print books with the advantages of enhanced eBooks.”—Booktrade

“Melville House [is] the most innovative house standing…. [This] immersive, matrix-like reading experience…is the most brilliant innovation since the footnote.”—Bullet Magazine

“The rift between the print and digital worlds is growing, and I’d prefer not to take sides. Which is why I was excited to hear last week that Melville House, an independent publisher in Brooklyn, will soon release a product that brings the two worlds together.”—InReads

And more: 

Shelf Awareness

The New Yorker

eBook Newser

Teleread

GalleyCat

Publisher’s Lunch

Book Page

The Huffington Post

Poets and Writers

Ubergizmo

Moconews

The Millions

Paid Content

Ziggy Tech

Reader’s Forum

 

International Press: 

Pianetaebook (Italy)

IDBoox (France)

Fantasy.Fr (France)

eReaders (Netherlands)

HC360.com (China)

A few tweets about HybridBooks around launch:
 

MobyLives