Vi i Villa and Expressen Release Fix-it Encyclopedia

In time for Easter weekend, Expressen and Vi i Villa released the first book in their joint series Bygg & Fixa-lexikon - a fix-it encyclopedia. The books, which will total 14, are sold where Expressen will be sold for 14 weeks, a new appearing each week. The idea came originally from Vi i Villa's CEO Christian Rudén, who contacted Expressen about cooperating on the series.   

"At Expressen, we'd already thought about doing some kind of 'do-it-yourself' product and the timing was great since there is so much interest in the topic right now," says Carina Friberg, sales manager at Expressen. "We've worked with book series for a number of years and know the importance of having a strong partner – strong brands provide credibility and that sells. That's why we thought Vi i Villa would be the perfect partner for the Bygg & Fixa-lexikon."

Friberg says that the close cooperation has taken advantage of the special competences within each of the companies.

"Expressen has expertise in business models, development and design of book seris and marketing experience," says Friberg. "Vi i Villa has the information and has been responsible for the content and even the design and layout. Plus Vi i Villa has a huge reach and via the cooperation we can reach the readers directly in Vi i Villa's magazine and at its website."

Vi i Villa went to its sister magazine, Gör-det-Själv magazine, which had interesting material it could re-use, says Camilla von Otter, editorial project manager at Vi i Villa. "We chose the best 14 books from its collection, edited them and fact-checked them for today's building standards and repackaged them with a new format and completely new layout. It was nice to work with Expressen, with their experiences selling book and other series. And that they are so visible for the general public felt like a good complementary channel for us."