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What’s better than reading? Having someone read to you. Even better—having the author read to you. When book lovers visit an author’s reading, they generally know his or her work. Aiming to introduce readers to authors they aren’t yet familiar with, zehnSeiten (German for ten pages) promotes writers through videos that feature them reading ten pages from their latest novel. Available both online and as an iPhone app, the videos are simple, fixed-camera affairs. No dramatic introductions or filmed scenes, just black and white recordings of authors sitting at a table and reading from their work. By eliminating frills, the focus is on the author and production time and costs are kept to a minimum. Videos range in length from ten to thirty minutes and feature work from a variety of publishers. New recordings are added weekly. zehnSeiten is the brainchild of five friends from Munich—an idea they had over drinks. It’s a concept that’s easily adaptable to others categories or other countries, at relatively low cost. Spotted by: Franziska Luh P.S. For those of you who don’t speak German, zehnSeiten adds that Tim Parks‘ and Paul Beatty‘s videos are in English.