Shelf Awareness, my favorite morning e-mail, wrote a special issue on HarperStudio yesterday that highlights some responses to the ongoing publishing and 
bookselling issues. It will be interesting to see how this attempt to adjust to the new reading and buying reality works out. The post is well worth reading. It discusses in detail some of the policies HarperStudio, a division of HaperCollins, is trying out. Here are some of the main points:
- HarperStudio is encouraging booksellers to buy the books on a nonreturnable basis by offering a large discount on these books
- Advances are lower to the author in exchange for a larger potential royalty
- People who buy the paper book with be given the option to buy it cheaply in downloadable audio and digital form so it can be read in all formats
- Marketing will concentrate on the Internet by using social networking, Twitter, related blogs and similar avenues
The debut book, Who is Mark Twain?, a compilation of previously unpublished stories, will be out on April 21st. Six of the stories are unfinished, so there will be a “I am the Next Mark Twain” writing contest allowing the entrants to finish a story. I’m looking forward to that!
Tags: press, publishing
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