U Star Novels Named As A National Finalist in the 2009 HSBC Start-Up Stars

- Personalised Novel Business One of the Top 25 Start Ups in the UK -

U Star Novels, publishers of the UK’s first personalised novels for adults named as a National Finalist in the HSBC Start-Up Stars awards, a national business event supported by Sky News.

The awards, now in its ninth year, which are also backed by the Daily Express, recognises, supports and celebrates the initiative and dedication shown by new business in the UK.

U Star Novels offers the UK’s first personalised novels for adults. A successful sector in America, romantic fiction is also one of the fastest growing sectors of book publishing in Britain. U Star Novels has uniquely tapped into this industry by being the first company to offer any couple the chance to star in their very own personalised romance novel.

By making best use of advances in print-on-demand technology, U Star Novels’ award-winning business model has shaken up the printing industry and also meets the increasing demand for ‘personalised’ gifts.

U Star Novels is one of 25 companies to secure a place in the National Finals.

HSBC’s Business Marketing Manager, Peter Nutton, said: “We thought that in a year in which there had been severe economic constraints the quality of entrants might suffer, but they have been as strong as ever. The selection process was very difficult.”

Head of Business Banking for HSBC, Huw Morgan, said:“We hope the success of U Star Novels in this year’s HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards will help it go from strength to strength, as well as prove to other budding entrepreneurs that business dreams really can be turned into reality.”

Co-founder and Managing Director Katie Olver says, ‘Setting up a new business is a huge challenge, and once you’ve launched a successful company it’s great to have that effort recognised. We’re delighted to be through to the next stage of these awards.”

U Star Novels is a step closer to scooping the top title and a cheque for £25,000 courtesy of HSBC. Start-Up Stars supporter, Google, will be offering £11,000 worth of free services plus mentoring at Google’s UK headquarters, to be split between the four winners.

The overall Winner will be revealed at a black-tie gala dinner at London’s InterContinental Hotel on November 23rd.

For more details on the Awards, visit the HSBC Start Up Stars website at http://www.startupstars.hsbc.co.uk/

A customer says it best

Following my recent appearance on Dragon's Den... I think a customer says it best in a recent email:

Hi

Just to say I've ordered two of your books in the last couple of years for my partner and she loved them!

Saw you on Dragon's Den this week, such a shame they didn't 'get it'.

Hope you get some invesment from somewhere, do you need it for more titles? That would be good, then I could order her another one!

Regards
Mr Dennis

Dragon's Den Discount

Dragon's Den discount for all who watch tonight, enter DC10DD when checking out if you want to buy your own personalised novel!

BBC Five Live Radio Interview - Wednesday 15th July

I'm working on a personalised book for Richard Bacon for my interview on BBC Five Live on Wednesday night after Dragon's Den

U Star Novels to appear in Dragon's Den

Just to let you know U Star Novels will be featuring in series 7 of Dragon's Den airing on BBC2 15th July at 9pm.

Tune in and see how we go pitching our business for investment to the five Dragon's.

Star In The Ultimate Love Story this Valentine's Day

UStarNovels.com offers Personalized Romantic and Erotic Novels

(PRWEB) February 3, 2009 -- UStarNovels.com, a site that lets lovers personalize their own romance and erotic novels, is officially launching their North American & Australian websites in time for the perfect Valentine's gift.

UStar offers a series of personalized romantic and erotic novels where you and your Valentine star in the books. People can choose their partner or join their favorite celebrity in a wild romance (think Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba etc.).

Customers simply answer a number of personal questions; nicknames, eye color, favorite food, music, perfume, lingerie color etc. and then select one of seven novels to star in. Each novel ranges in sexual content from sensual and romantic to erotic, appealing to a wide audience.

Shaped entirely by feedback from customers, UStar Novels found that people were looking for something more sexually charged and they wanted sex scenes written by a female author.

"After our initial feedback from readers, it was revealed that people were interested in more erotic content than our first titles Indecent in Italy, Spanish Sizzle and Fever in France," says UStar Novels Founder, Katie Olver. "They also wanted their sex scenes written by a female."

"We listened and released our newest title, Amsterdam Lessons. If you are looking for something to spice things up on Valentine's Day, Amsterdam Lessons will certainly give you some food for thought. Amsterdam Lessons is not just for ladies, it also helps the guys live out their fantasies."

Thanks to customer feedback UStar Novels has also launched a series of same-sex novels. Back for Moore and Secrets of Sydney are written by gay and lesbian authors. They have been very popular additions to the UStar collection.

Users can now order books from UStarNovels.com for $39.95 plus shipping and handling. The books are shipped from UStar's printers in New York. For more information on each book, please visit http://www.ustarnovels.com

U Star on Nuts TV

U Star Novels recently made an appearance on Nuts TV

Watch & Enjoy!

http://www.nuts.co.uk/video/nuts-stuff

U Star Novels website down temporarily

Hi Everyone trying to order a book for Valentine's Day!

Yesterday we launched our new .com version of our website so that we could take orders from the US & Australia. Unfortunately the site got so overwhelmed with traffic after the launch yesterday we're having to upgrade our server capacity and we should be back online properly later today.

Please give us a call on 020 89770627 if any problems.

Thanks Katie