Earlier today, Bonnier announced the four entrepreneurs chosen to take part in the new Bonnier Accelerator program.

The four who made the cut are: Jonas Forsslund, Heidi Harman and as a team, Fredrik Hjorth and Adrian Swartz.

"I'm exited to be chosen, looking forward to be working with a great accelerator as well as being in an environment with the other talented teams," said Harman, who has started up several companies and is a co-founder of Geek Girl Meetup. "Let's have fun!"

Read more about the winners here. Or watch a video interview with Fredrik Hjorth and Adrian Swartz.

For several years, Delovoy Peterburg advertising manager Alexey Golovin dreamed about taking part in GROW, Bonnier’s exchange program that lets employees work at another job in another company and country for three months. “When I graduated from university last year, I thought: ‘I can’t miss my chance now,’” he says.

So he applied and got a position at Bonnier Digital working as a project manager in Stockholm. There, Golovin is working on a project quite different from his work in Russia, where he sells newspaper and website ads. “At Bonnier Digital, I’m working on a project called E-duty [E-plikt in Swedish],” he says. “Basically, from July 1 all published digital materials in Sweden should be delivered to the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm. I’m helping to implement a solution for that. Although my goals at the two jobs are different, I use the same methods to reach them – communications and analysis.”

While Bonnier Digital is based in Stockholm, there are two development teams outside Sweden, one in Russia and one in Vietnam. And when Golovin arrived, he was surprised that one of his new co-workers in the office was from St. Petersburg. “The biggest shock was that in St. Petersburg, we live on the same street!”

In a little over a month, Golovin will be going back to St. Petersburg, bringing back with him a great experience and new communication and language skills. “I’ll miss my co-workers, who helped me during all my time at Bonnier Digital,” he says, “and Stockholm with its beautiful architecture, parks and banks as well.”

With no end in sight for the enormous public appetite for Scandinavian noir fiction, book publishers are always on the lookout for exciting new authors with undiscovered manuscripts. In February, Norwegian publisher Cappelen Damm added a bit of spice to the hunt when it announced a new contest, the Cappelen Damm krimkonkurrensen – crime competition – with a prize of NOK 500,000 to the winner. With blind-judging by the jury, the winning entry could be from an established author – or a debut from the next queen or king of crime.

Last week, the publisher announced the winner: newcomer Lars Ove Sæther with his book Hanegal (Rooster), featuring rookie NCIS detective Jenny Brox.

Writing why it gave the award to Sæther, the jury wrote: “Ultimately, there was no doubt about the winner, who told his well-written story with great authority. The story is dark, with plenty of horror, but also is enjoyable. He manages to keep the tension all the way to the end, tying up the loose ends elegantly and managing to come up with a solution that was a surprise for the jury. Simply put, it’s a real page turner with great entertainment value.”

Members of the jury include: Chris Tvedt (Cappelen Damm author), Alexandra Beverfjord (news editor for Norwegian daily Dagbladet) and Mariann Fugelsø Nilssen (publisher at Cappelen Damm).

Along with the money awarded, the book will get the usual distribution from Cappelen Damm in all its channels, plus a prime spot in the book club Krimklubben.

For Hellena Schroth, switching companies and countries for three months has meant getting to sink her teeth deep into projects in a way she doesn’t normally get to do.

A project manager for online marketing at children’s book publisher Carlsen Verlag in Germany, during her GROW time Schroth worked as a digital specialist at Bonnier Publications in Norway. There, she worked on three projects: an analysis of the company’s magazines for women, looking at the websites, newsletters, subscription sales and ads; research for a new e-commerce platform; and a business model and technical features of a yet-to-be launched online community.

“In Germany I work very closely with my other colleagues in the marketing department and the other departments and external contractors, operating the daily editorial day-to-day business as well as long-term projects,” says Schroth. “In Norway I had the time to look deeply into the projects I participated in, analyzing all the associated criteria.”

Being in a different, faster moving industry has given her some knowledge that she will be taking back with her when she goes back to Germany. “In times of a changing book market in Germany and Europe, I think I can use this experience to help Carlsen on its way towards an even more digital future,” says Schroth about what she’s learned.

She misses her Norwegian colleagues now that she's back home, she says. But she has plenty of memories of the Norwegian way of doing things – like early lunches. “Where we usually take a longer lunchtime around 12: 30 or 1 p.m. in Germany, in Norway the lunch break lasts only half an hour – starting at 11 am.,” she says. “But, motivated by the excellent canteen, I adapted quickly to eating a warm meal that was breakfast for me. Brunch every day, who wouldn’t love that!"

Laura Lyytinen knows book covers. A graphic designer at Tammi in Finland, she works in the children’s and juvenile books department. But for three months, she’s been spreading her knowledge and using her skills on the other side of the world as part of the GROW program, working at the Five Mile Press in Australia.

“I think this is a great opportunity to get new experiences and inspiration for my daily job as a designer,” says Lyytinen. “You get to see new places, culture and people. It's definitely interesting to see how publishing house works in the other side of the world and to be part of that for a while.”

At the Five Mile Press, Lyttinen has gotten to see first-hand what it’s like in the book business in a much bigger market than her home market of Finland. Bigger volumes means differences in organization and production. “In design work this means that more finishes and different formats can be used in the products,” she says. Plus, the Five Mile Press offices are in suburban Melbourne, right next to the warehouse where the books are kept, so she can see further down the supply chain as well.

And while one of the surprises has been that the daily work is in fact pretty similar, it doesn’t mean that she won’t be sorry to leave some things behind. “I will be missing working in a team of graphic designers and other great people I've met here,” she says, not to mention the country itself. “The beauty of Australian nature has made a big impact on me.” 

Jenny Holst, marketing manager for single-copy sales at Swedish magazine publisher Bonnier Tidskrifter, knows how key retail sales are for the company.

"It's extremely important for us," says Holst. "We don't have any of our own stores and so we have no direct contact with customers - it's the retailers who are the final link between us and those who buy single copies of our magazines. Today, we have about 7,000 retailers, from the little newsstand around the corner that sells eight titles to Bonnier Tidskrifter's biggest retailer, Pressbyrån at Central Station in Stockholm, which stocks 2,000 titles.

"The distribution is important and means that we can have our magazines exactly where our potential readers are."

How important are retail displays and shelving?

We have seen that retailers who are smart about their displays and actively work with their magazine sections, for example ICA Flygfyren supermarket in Norrtälje, show results. For our part, it's most important that our magazines are displayed so that they stand out on the shelf. A task that isn't always the easiest with every magazine having a set place based on segment and sales.

How do you increase single-copy sales at retailers?

We do everything we can to remind them to take special care with our magazines. We regularly call on our biggest retailers with sneak previews, summer treats and more. We buy campaign space on shelves and near cash registers to give us better placement - for example you could find parenting magazine Vi Föräldrar near the diapers and food magazine Allt om Mat in front of the meat coolers.

We buy campaign space and take part in different theme stands, for example "Fresh Start" at the beginning of the year. We send letters to our retailers - often with contests where they can send in photos of how they've shelved a magazine. We even produce special shelving display material to give more prominence to our magazines. And this year we started with trying out digital coupons via text message or apps to draw customers into stores to buy single copies.

This fall, TV4 will be increasing its live news coverage in on-deman service TV4 Play and tv4.se in Sweden. The initiative means the network will be ordering increased news from Nyhetsbolaget. Daily newspaper Expressen will also serve as a supplier for live broadcast news. The change is being made in conjunction with the discontinuation of the 24-hour news channel TV4 News.

"We have a strong news tradition to maintain, with a 10 p.m. spot that's grown for the third year in a row and a morning news program that regularly takes market share from competitor SVT," says Viveka Hansson, program director at TV4. "At the same time, we're seeing an increase in mobile viewing and so we want to offer our viewers live news coverage from TV4 outside of scheduled broadcasts."

The increase in digital programming means TV4 will be getting more material from supplier Nyhetsbolaget. And with the cooperation with Expressen, TV4 will be able to complement this with live coverage from Expressen TV.

"Viewers should always know that there's relevant content on our digital channels," says Hansson. "Even in the middle of the night, seconds after something has happened. Evening papers are particularly quick on their feet and it's exciting to test and see how TV4, Nyhetsbolaget and Expressen can complement one another."

Simultaneous with the increase in news available digitally this fall, TV4 News will be shut down.

"TV4 news was a linear premium news channel with a target audience of decision makers," says Hansson. "Now our news coverage will be more extensive and free even on platforms separate from our flagship channel TV4."

Weldon Owen Publishing titles ranked among the top five on the official U.S. book sales charts in the sport and recreation category in June. During one week, Outdoor Life’s The Ultimate Survival Manual ranked No. 1, with Field & Stream’s The Total Fishing Manual taking the No. 2 spot and Field & Stream’s The Total Outdoorsman Manual ranking No. 3, according to Nielsen BookScan. In addition, Field & Stream’s The Total Gun Manual held the No. 19 spot.

Field & Stream’s The Total Fishing Manual ranked recently as the No. 1 best-selling nonfiction book in Canada, according to The Globe and Mail’s bestseller list. This marked the first time a Weldon Owen title has taken the top spot on a national bestseller list.

Weldon Owen’s Manuals series — also featuring titles created in collaboration with Popular Science and Popular Photography— has reached total lifetime combined sales in excess of 1 million copies.

“It’s the combination of beautiful, practical books and the strong brand power of our partner magazines that produces these great numbers,” says Terry Newell, President and CEO of Weldon Owen. 

This fall, two more titles in the series will be released, including Field & Stream’s The Total Deer Hunter Manual and Cycle World’s The Total Motorcycling Manual.

Are you a science fiction, horror or erotica fan? Or maybe just curious? Swedish book publisher Mix förlag has released three new apps with content designed for quick reading. Each short story is categorized according to how long it takes to read: just put in how many extra minutes you have and then start in on your reading adventure in a new world of words. The apps also offer extra experiences connected to the short stories.

Dötid Science Fiction (Downtime Science Fiction) includes, among others, winning enries and three honorable mentions from a contest sponsored by Mix and the Swedish book chain Science Fiction Bokhandel. Seven SF short stories and one novel excerpt by, among others, Johan Frick, KG Johansson, Jorun Modén, Oska Källner, Anders Åslund and Maria Küchen.

Dötid Erotik (Downtime Erotica) includes seven short stories from some of Sweden's hottest writers and three exceprts from the most titillating novels of the year, by among others Moa Eriksson Sandberg, Malva B., Johanna Narberg, Daniel Möller and Niklas Frykholm.

Dötid Skräck (Downtime Horror) includes eight spine-tingling short stories - from a selection of Sweden's top authors in the genre, both classics and newly written. By among others Johan Theorin, Caroline L. Jensen, Anders Fager, Johan Ring, Kristoffer Leandoer, Amanda Hellberg and Anna Winberg.

The apps work with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

From YouTube star to a pre-eminent stargazer, Hollywood director to sustainability crusader, Bonnier’s annual GRID inspiration summit promises to inspire, challenge and surprise the 250 participants who will be coming in to Stockholm Sept. 9-10 from all parts of the Bonnier world.

Earlier this week, two of the speakers were announced on the GRID Facebook page: Danish Oscar-winning film director Susanne Bier and legendary astronomer Jill Tarter, portrayed by Jodie Foster in the film Contact.

Other speakers include Australian social scientist Leyla Acaroglu; The Google Code author Andreas Ekström; Dagens Nyheter's multi-prize-winning photographer Paul Hansen; aging expert Sarah Harper; serial entrepreneur Oscar Höglund; anti-bullying activist and poet Shane Koyczan; storyteller and multi-disciplinary artist Raghava KK.

Plus big data journalist and graphic designer David McCandless; museum curator and scientist Kees Moeliker; seaborne explorer Debra Searle; and terrorist expert Jessica Stern.

You can read all about them on the GRID blog. All talks will also be made available on the GRID website.

Last week, Bonnier Publications, with headquarters in Copenhagen, announced it would be making several changes within its subsidiary companies. Jesper Buchwald, currently CEO of Benjamin Media, will be leaving to start a new E-Commerce department for the Bonnier Publications Group. Benjamin Media, which publishes lifestyle magazines such as M!, Costume and Bo Bedre, will have a new CEO in Niels Jespersen, who is currently CEO of Bonnier Publications' Norwegian operations. The staff changes will take place in September and October.

The new E-Commerce department will focus on developing new independent digital outlets. Buchwald will also be working with the development and implementation of the other parts of the company’s digital strategy, including being in charge of a new joint department of digital technology for all of Bonnier Publications Group online media. Aside from Denmark and Norway, Bonnier Publications has companies in Finland and Russia. He will also continue as part of executive management within the company, continuing to have overall responsibility for marketing and several other functions.

“The e-commerce initiative we are launching now is an add-on to the core business and is part of a new digital strategy for Bonnier Publications,” says Buchwald. “Based on experiments and research, we believe there is an opportunity to buid a profitable e-commerce business. We will create this by using our existing market reach, marketing skills and partnerships.”

For the new E-Commerce division, there are several concepts in the pipeline, Buchwald says, with new brands related to the topics of some of Bonnier Publications’ magazines. At least one of the concepts is expected to launch during 2013.

“At the moment, the E-Commerce department is a small but very enthusiastic team of three people working with this, but we have high hopes for this business and will expand the staff as the business grows,” says Buchwald.

Starting today, Swedish channels TV4 and SVT are launching common symbols for their services for captioning, sign-language interpretation, spoken text and audio description. The symbols will be used on the TV screen, in the time schedules and on the web.

The channels will also make it easier to choose Swedish subtitles via teletext. Today, different channels have different captioning on different teletext pages. After 2013, TV4 and SVT viewers will be able to see program texts on the teletext page 199, regardless of channel.

"When we started with TV4 sign-language service a year and a half ago, the goal was to increase access for seeing- and hearing-impaired viewers without requiring expense equipment or special broadcast times," says Åsa Jamal, director of communications for the TV4 Group. "The fact that this work is now spreading to other channels is a further step in the right direction."

TV4 has a wide selection of captioned and interpreted programming, including Idol and Sweden's Master Chef, among many other shows. The teletext page TV4-tolken, was launched in winter 2012 with many of TV4's own prime-time productions are available. All pre-recorded programming is available on teletext page 890, as well as live 7 and 10 p.m. news broadcasts Monday through Friday plus Idol live broadcasts. TV4 won the 2012 Young Hearing-Impaired Ögonsten (apple of our eye) award for its work with making programming more available for viewiers with impaired sight or hearing. 

Today marks the start of Bonnier Accelerator, the new program that will give five aspiring entrepreneurs a chance to turn their ideas into a business with help from Bonnier. The five chosen to take part – Jonas Forsslund, Heidi Harman, Maria Elgaard, Fredrik Hjorth and Adrian Swartz – will spend three months developing their ideas further with help from Bonnier.

“The program we’ve developed for them is completely tailored to match the challenge of finding the business opportunities in their ideas during the three months we have,” says Jenny Collén Gustafsson, consultant and start-up expert who has worked as strategic manager for Iqube and developed models and methodology for Tillväxtverket, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, among other things. “The program is pragmatic, which means we won’t be going over a lot of theory but focus on action. We’ll be combining modern business development tools with tools for personal development so that the entrepreneurs and their ideas and companies can grow in parallel, so we can show concrete, long-term progress much more quickly.”

Collén Gustafsson helped to create the program together with Bonnier AB and Elisabeth Palombo, director of talent management for the company. “We chose to work with Jenny because of her long experience working with startups,” says Palombo. “She knows what challenges they face and what tools are needed. My role in the program is, beside my own experience with business development ant leadership, to help them navigate Bonnier’s decentralized world and understand our culture better.”

Along with action-focused workshops and hands-on individual work, Bonnier Accelerator will provide the five with mentors appropriate to their needs to give advice and serve as a sounding board, plus lots of networking opportunities at events such as the Bonnier Digital Forums and Bonnier’s annual inspiration summit GRID. During the three months, the entrepreneurs will be physically sitting at Bonnier  Growth Media. At the end of the program, they will present fully developed business plans to an expert panel who will decide whether to take the next step to continue and turn the plan into reality.

“The program will help make sure they don’t end up making mistakes that others have made before them,” says Collén Gustafsson. “The most difficult thing when it comes to creating a company is not knowing what to focus on when everything seems important. But everything isn’t equally crucial all the time, and we’ll help the participants see their entrepreneurialism more objectively. Entrepreneurs tend to focus on what they think is most fun or simplest, but with us they’ll have to take care of even the parts they don’t think of as fun.”

And what’s the biggest challenge for the entrepreneurs?

“Prioritizing and focusing on the right thing,” Collén Gustafsson says. “It’s not unusual that an incredible amount of time has been spent in developing a product and when it’s ready, there aren’t any customers for it. The challenge is developing a company or idea in a way that includes potential customers in the process so that they’re already sold on the product before it’s even done.”

At last Friday's live broadcast of Kristallen, TV4 won for of the top awards. The pop star makeover program Så mycket bättre (so much better) won both for the category Entertainment Program of the Year and the audience favorite category Program of the Year. Host David Hellenius, whose programs include Let's Dance among others, won as Male Host of the Year and Sweden's Master Chef won Docu-Soap of the Year.

"I'm incredibly happy and proud of the evening's great wins by TV4, which pays tribute to the exceptional craft and achievement involved in our programs," says Åsa Sjöberg, program director for the TV4 Group. "Not the least that viewers chose Så mycket bättre as Sweden's best TV program."

Svensk Filmindustri has signed an agreement for the purchase of the production company Tre Vänner. As part of the deal, Tre Vänner’s CEO Jonas Fors will take over as CEO for Svensk Filmindustri on October 1.  As a result, Svensk Filmindustri’s current sole owner Bonnier Growth Media will own 90 percent of the shares in the company, with Tre Vänner’s owners holding the remaining 10 percent. 

“Svensk Filmindustri is a well-known brand which is highly respected by the global film industry with a catalog of more than 1,200 films,” says Ulrika Saxon, Board Chair for Svensk Filmindustri and CEO at Bonnier Growth Media. “To that we’re now adding Tre Vänner, a successful and very exciting production company with a network of creative minds and management with an indisputable track record. The ambition now, under the leadership of Jonas Fors, is to take the next step to realize Svensk Filmindustri’s full potential as a leading European film company.”

Fors takes over after current CEO Rasmus Ramstad, who after 15 years at the helm of Svensk Filmindustri, will become a senior advisor to Bonnier Growth Media.

This spring, when Dr. Michael Mosley appeared on the Swedish TV program Vetenskapens Värld (The World of Science), talking about his 5:2 fasting diet, it struck a chord with the Swedish public. Suddenly, Swedes in big numbers across the country started adopting Mosely’s method of eating normally five days a week, with a modified fast for the other two days. Newspapers and magazines helped feed the demand – Swedish food monthly Allt om Mat’s popular list of 5:2 recipes, for example. And book publisher Bonnier Fakta quickly bought the Swedish rights to Mosley’s book, The Fast Diet.

“We've never seen a health trend spread so broadly and quickly as 5:2; it caught on much faster than, for example, the low-carb, high-fiber diet, which has been hugely popular with Swedes,” says Charlotta Larsson, PR manager for book publisher Bonnier Fakta, who brought Mosley to Stockholm on Tuesday, following the success of 5:2-dieten – Friskare, smalare, längre liv med halvfasta, as the book is called in Swedish.

The biggest challenge for Bonnier Fakta was getting out the book as fast as possible to a, er, hungry public.

“We had a very short production time, which was an exciting challenge for everyone involved,” says Larsson. “One of the things we did to satisfy the demand was to put out the e-book version as soon as we could, on July 10, nearly a month before we released the print version on Aug. 7.”

In record time, it became one of the top-selling e-books for Bonnierförlagen, the publishing group of which Bonnier Fakta is a part. And the first edition of the print book sold out a week after its release. 

Next up is the cook book – 5:2-dieten Kokboken– which is due out on Sept. 17. The Swedish edition is the third to come out in the world, after the U.S. and U.K. versions.

“It was great having Dr. Mosley here,” says Larsson. “He talked about the science behind 5:2, and met with a lot of journalists. Plus we had Kerstin Brismar at the press meeting, the professor och nutrition researcher from Karolinska Institutet who wrote the foreward to the Swedish edition and who is undertaking research on the health effects of the 5:2 diet.”

As for Mosely, his take on why his diet has become so popular with the Swedish public is simple: “5:2 is easy to follow, you don't need to change your whole lifestyle," he said in Stockholm to the press. "I'm also happy to be getting so many questions about the health effects today, that's what is most exciting about 5:2. I look forward to following Kerstin Brismar's Swedish research."

Bonnier's annual inspiration summit GRID was jampacked with speakers who made the audience laugh, cry, catch their collective breath, feel guilty, provoked and filled with wonder. And even if GRID finished yesterday, it isn't over. Throughout today and tomorrow, videos of the speaker's talks will be released on the GRID site here. You can also see photos on the GRID Facebook site.

Among the speakers were Shane Koyczan, spoken-word poet and YouTube sensation who moved the audience with tales of young love, being bullied and his dreams for the future. Danish film director Susanne Bier, who revealed a very personal side of how she thinks when making a film. The undefinable Raghava KK who talked about his art, his life and how being naughty really pays off. Susainability crusader Leyla Acaroglu who challenged the audience to really think through their green choices. Accidental adventurer Debra Searle who wowed the audience with her tales of rowing across the Atlantic alone. And many more.

Plus several of Bonnier's own employees told their stories to a spell-bound crowd - like award-winning Dagens Nyheter photographer Paul Hansen on the heart-breaking Photo of the Year he took, Sydsvenskan reporter Andreas Ekström on some of what he's learned in writing a book on Google, among others.

All 250 participants also took part in a workshop on developing mobile business ideas. And there were lots of opportunities - structured and unstructured - for people to network.

"It's not what I expected: a business meeting to talk about what we do," said GRID participant Garrett Kai, associate publisher for marketing at the Bonnier Motorcycle Group in the U.S. "Instead, it was about about all kinds of things that make you think, it's much more personal."

Get this: An average book is approximately 1.5 centimeters thick, while your average 10-year-old is 140 centimeters. Add to the equation the 752 Facebook “likes” that the Bonnier Book Club (Bonniers Bokklubb) page has gotten via its campaign for the Swedish children’s reading initiative Berättarministeriet, in which each “like” results in the donation of one book to the initiative. The total is a pile of books that is eight 10-year-olds high that the Facebook campaign will be donating to Berättarministeriet.

Bonnierförlagen, parent company to Bonniers Bokklubb, has long been a supporter of Berättarministeriet (read more). “We wanted to find an organization to support that promotes reading by children and young adults in Sweden, and found Berättarministeriet, which seemed perfect for us,” says Christina Enell-Eriksson, web content manager at Bonniers Bokklubb. “It’s an organization that’s creative as well as goal-oriented with a clear focus on those social groups that need a little extra help. Children are our future and their future is dependent on being able to read and write without any problem. We are more than happy to support this. It also reflects the soul of the book club: love of books and the reading experience.”

The Facebook campaign will end up giving at least a thousand books to Berättarministeriet, Enell-Eriksson estimates. The books themselves, which are provided by children’s and young adult publisher Bonnier Carlsen, will be given out later this fall at special parties at Berättarministeriet’s workshop spaces in Södertälje and Järva.

Want to add to the pile? Go ahead, check out the Facebook page and donate your “like” to Bonniers Bokklubbar and Berättarministeriet!

In conjunction with the Monsters of Film festival, on-demand video service SF Anytime will be offering its own monsters. Together with Njutafilms and Studio S, SF Anytime is giving movielovers the chance to see a selection of the festival films at home, via video on-demand, at the same time the film festival is showing the same films. The festival runs Sept. 26-29, and the films will be available at SF Anytime Sept. 20-29.

Among the films being shown and available at SF Anytime are the horror comedy Stitches and the critically acclaimed Berberian Sound Studio.

"Sadly, everyone in Sweden who loves horror films doesn't have the possibility of coming to Stockholm for the Monsters of Film festival, so this is a great complement for those who don't want to miss out on the fun," says Hannes Rubaszkin, campaign manager at SF Anytime. "I'm personally a big fan of horror and unusual films, so I'm of course going to try and see as many of them as possible. Not least the film John Dies at the End, which won't be shown anywhere else except on SF Anytime."

SF Anytime films are available via Internet, Smart TVs, Xbox 360 as well as via its partners Telia, ComHem, Canal Digital, Boxer and Bredbandsbolaget.

When Johan Åberg applied to work for three months at Templar Publishing in the U.K. under the GROW exchange program, he wanted a chance to experience something new, develop and test how it is to work and live in another country. “For me, GROW is an adventure that exactly as the name says, is about the possibility to grow,” he says.

For Åberg, it meant leaving his job at Stockholm-based content agency Spoon, where he is project manager for a number of different digital and print projects for customers such as telecom company Telia, and moving to Dorking in Surrey to work with book publishing.

“Even if my work at Spoon and Templar was pretty different, it’s still actually two sides of the same coin,” says Åberg. “At Spoon, we work with content marketing while at Templar the marketing focus is broader – but the goal is often the same. It’s the methods that are different and it’s been an incredible learning experience to get a glimpse into how Templar markets its titles in different channels, and even how the book industry works. My colleagues at Templar are really smart and I’ve learned so much working side by side with them.”

While Åberg has been working with marketing of various Templar titles, he also used his previous experience in digital marketing to do a research study that will eventually contribute to the development of the company’s new website. “It was a really fun extra project to have on the side,” he says.

When asked to name what was best about the experience, Åberg has a long list – all the new impressions, meetings, people and all that he learned. “It was wonderfully stimulating to get out of my routines, move somewhere outside the usual comfort zones and get a bigger perspective,” he says. “As an Anglophile, it was great to live three months in a charming English town, 50 minutes from London. And my colleagues at Templar, who did all they could to make me feel at home, they’ve been fantastic, not least my boss Emma O’Donovan, who is a real star.”

Åberg wasn’t stingy about giving back when it came to cultural exchanges. At the request of his colleagues, he gave them a “Swedish Word of the Day” which resulted in a lot of laughter when they tried to sound out letter by letter such vital words as igelkott (hedgehog) and spraylim (spray adhesive). Best of all, “I tried my best to spread the Swedish ‘fika’ coffee break tradition, even bringing in my own homemade cinnamon buns,” he says. “My colleagues didn’t believe I made them myself, which for me was the best proof I’d succeeded!”