Pete Selby, the former music and books trading manager of Sainsbury’s, is launching a new imprint of Bonnier Books called Nine Eight Books. Selby joined Bonnier as their publishing director last year, appointing senior editor Melissa Bond in March.

During a tough year due to the pandemic, Bonnier Books had time to work on the new concept of NIne Eight books, which will publish music based literature including autobiographies, biographies, personal narratives and in depth profiles.

In an interview with Music Week, Selby spoke about his belief that there is a gap in the market for this kind of music based content as traditional music magazines go put of print. He explained, “There have been some brilliant music books published in recent years which have really helped drive the growth of the sector as well as consumers’ ongoing faith in quality music publishing. Some of this is a generational thing – with artists who found fame in the ’80s and ’90s being at a stage in their lives where they’re ready to tell their stories – but also, more recently, there has been a shift in readers habits. With long running and cherished music magazines closing down, there are not only many fantastic music writers in the marketplace but also a number of dedicated and curious music fans who are still really interested in accessible long form reads….The ambition for Nine Eight is to help serve those all of those needs and do so – like the best magazines – in an inclusive way.”

Selby also spoke excitedly about Bob Stanley being signed for  athree book deal starting in 2022, starting with a profile on the BeeGees, a memoir of Gordon King, and an autobiography of Miki Berenyi of Lush. He saif about the veteran music writer that “Bob signing to Nine Eight in a multi-book deal – starting with the Bee Gees in 2022 – is an incredible coup. He is objectively one of the greatest music writers of the 21st century. Bob was also one of the first authors I signed last year, which really helped give me the confidence and impetus that we could make this work and quickly established that we were taking things seriously.”

Nine Eight launches formally today.