Random House to Sell Books by the Chapter

[Gaurnim]

According to this article on Reuters, Random House plans to sell some books online by the chapter.

The article is rather short, so I'll quote it entirely here:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Random House Publishing Group, the world's largest book publisher, is planning to test selling individual chapters of a popular book to gauge reader demand, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Random House, a unit of German media giant Bertelsmann (BERT.UL), will sell the six chapters and epilogue of "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" for $2.99 each according to the report.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Quentin Bryar)

URL :
http://www.reuters.com/article/techn...technologyNews

I would say that the price is not very attractive, it amounts to something like 21$ for the whole book if I get it right ...

[Puffball]

They've chosen an ideal title for their experiment. This one will die, all right!

[snookums]

It doesn't apply to other eBook readers, but I can already get a sample chapter of that book on the Kindle for free.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

It should be a very educational experiment. I have no doubt Random House will discover that the customer's desire to be insulted and ripped off by a major publisher will be small.

[nesagwa]

It seems like theyre trying to use the iTunes model of 1 song for X amount.

The problem is books dont work the same way cds and music in general do.

Im assuming by "sell" it means you pay the money and have to view it online similar to the Marvel Comics service.

I wish these companies would quit meandering around and just figure out digital distribution already.

[Alisa]

If it's not downloadable to a portable device then I'm not getting what they see is attractive here. Why would I want to pay more for less convenience? If I have to be chained to my computer then you need to offer it to me very cheaply. For a product like this to be attractive it has to offer some advantage over the paper book. It's got to be cheaper or more convenient, not more expensive and less convenient. Even if I just wanted to read the first chapter before buying, $3 is too much and I'd want that rolled into my purchase price anyway. Amazon got it right with their free sample idea. I wouldn't be surprised if the other stores start doing it soon, too.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Yeah, I can't figure out what they see as the value behind this, either. It almost seems to me they're purposely setting this one up to fail... maybe to prove a point to some stockholder, or to an author who's trying to pressure them into selling e-books, I don't know.

[mores]

I'd buy the first, third and the last two chapters.
The rest is useless.

sheesh, this experiment will definately fail!

[m-reader]

Here's a better one: Why not sell books by the letter! Then you could have all sorts of marketing promotions - Free Vowels Day, Buy an A get a Free B, etc.
Ideas just keep coming...

[NatCh]

There's a precedent for this sort of approach: this is the way they used to sell novels in the 1800's.

Worked pretty well at the time, actually.

[The Old Man]

Originally Posted by m-reader

Here's a better one: Why not sell books by the letter! Then you could have all sorts of marketing promotions - Free Vowels Day, Buy an A get a Free B, etc.
Ideas just keep coming...

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by m-reader

Here's a better one: Why not sell books by the letter! Then you could have all sorts of marketing promotions - Free Vowels Day, Buy an A get a Free B, etc.
Ideas just keep coming...

I wonder how much they'd charge just for punctuation?

[snookums]

Yep. That's how Dickens sold his novels. It's also how Stephen King sold The Green Mile. I actually have all of the chapter books for The Green Mile. I bought them as they came out. The problem is that only an idiot would buy a book a piece at a time when the whole thing is already out for the cost of about 3 chapters. This is evidence for the total disconnect that there is between publishers and reality. If they had half a brain, they would be giving away the first chapter of every book in their catalog for free. I've already bought at least half a dozen books I never would have bought if not for the sample chapters I can get on the Kindle.

[nesagwa]

Originally Posted by snookums

Yep. That's how Dickens sold his novels. It's also how Stephen King sold The Green Mile. I actually have all of the chapter books for The Green Mile. I bought them as they came out. The problem is that only an idiot would buy a book a piece at a time when the whole thing is already out for the cost of about 3 chapters. This is evidence for the total disconnect that there is between publishers and reality. If they had half a brain, they would be giving away the first chapter of every book in their catalog for free. I've already bought at least half a dozen books I never would have bought if not for the sample chapters I can get on the Kindle.

Exactly.

There is a difference between a periodical or serial release of a story (which is fine) and splitting up a book thats already out into multiple pieces.

What sense would it make to buy half a book when you can buy it complete elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.

In short, Short Stories for sale on Sonys Store = Right Idea (Prices are still pretty steep though).

Random House by the Chapter = Bad Idea.

[AMacD]

Edgar Rice Burroughs sold in series as well. In reading any Tarzan book, you can pretty well figure out where he broke them up. He was either thought to be killed, was about to be killed or was in some dire place. Reading them again reminds me when I was a kid and viewing the Saturday Matinee movies where our hero was left in suspense every week, whether Superman or Flash Gordon or the Lone Ranger, didn't matter, same idea. This is not the same as breaking into chapters where they take us to an alternate scene. If you are going to sell a serial, get someone to write a serial.