Product Launch

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 21 January 2005 21 January 2005 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Product Launch Bloomsbury Publishing Plc announced today that it will be undertaking a major publication to raise money for Indian Ocean tsunami earthquake charities. A collection of first chapters from forthcoming books yet to be released by major world novelists, many of them not published by Bloomsbury, will be issued on 3 March -World Book Day - priced at £5. The project will be earnings neutral as Bloomsbury is donating its publishing services free as are the authors, the agents, the distributors, the carriers, the booksellers, wholesalers, supermarkets and bookclubs. The printers and the paper merchants are undertaking the work at base cost and it is hoped that this will be off-set by sponsorship, including from the financial community, to enable the full £5 of the retail price to reach the tsunami charities. The authors contributing their first chapters to the book, entitled New Beginnings, include three Booker Prize winners and one Nobel Prize winner. They are Margaret Atwood, Maeve Binchy, Tracy Chevalier, Harlan Coben, Paulo Coelho, JM Coetzee, Nicholas Evans, Mark Haddon, Nick Hornby, Marian Keyes, Stephen King, Alexander McCall Smith, Ian McEwan, Vikram Seth, Joanna Trollope and Scott Turow. New Beginnings will be published by Bloomsbury around the world in the English language through Bloomsbury UK and Bloomsbury USA. The book will be published in German by the company's subsidiary, Berlin Verlag and in many other foreign languages by other publishers Bloomsbury deals with around the world. Severe damage was inflicted on Bloomsbury customers in the region including the Vijitha Yapa Bookshop in Galle, Sri Lanka. Bloomsbury has also made a donation of £100,000 to the tsunami appeals. £96,000 has been donated on behalf of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, A&C Black Publishers Limited and Bloomsbury USA to the Disasters Emergency Committee ('DEC') and £4,000 will be donated to German UNICEF by Berlin Verlag. ENDS Enquiries re the tsunami book New Beginnings Katie Bond 020 7494 6012 Bloomsbury Publishing katie_bond@bloomsbury.com Enquiries re Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Tim Spratt/Michelle Morton, 020 7831 3113 Financial Dynamics This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange