digital publishing

HarperStudio: A New Book Publishing Model That Pays Authors 50-50

Julia Cheiffetz edits books at HarperStudio, a new imprint of HarperCollins that's trying to rethink both the format of books and the business model. HarperStudio will publish just two books a month and offer authors 50-50 profit sharing, rather than a traditional 7% to 15% royalty.READ»

• Fast Talk: The Do-It-Yourselfers
• Fast Talk: The Virtual Book Clubber
• Fast Talk: The New Storytellers
• Fast Talk: The Format Buster

Blurb's $30 Million Sold Proves Print Still Rocks

Eileen Gittins runs Blurb, a profitable print-on-demand startup that sold $30 million worth of books last year.READ»

• Fast Talk: The Experimenter
• Fast Talk: The Virtual Book Clubber
• Fast Talk: The New Storytellers
• Fast Talk: The Format Buster

Can E-book Readers Like the Sony Reader Dominate the Industry in 10 Years?

Steve Haber developed the Sony Reader, an electronic reading device. The Reader tripled its sales last holiday season; the third-generation Reader (complete with touch screen, and highlighting and notation features) debuted last November and is available at Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart.READ»

• Fast Talk: The Virual Book Clubber
• Fast Talk: The New Storytellers
• Fast Talk: The Experimenter
• Fast Talk: The Do-It-Yourselfer

The 39 Clues: Reading Is Just Part of the Game

John Yoo, David Levithan, and Rachel Griffiths created the children's series "The 39 Clues," which weaves its story through 10 books, an online game, and trading cards. The first three books sold more than 2.5 million copies, DreamWorks bought the movie rights, and the fourth title will be released in June.READ»

• Fast Talk: The Virual Book Clubber
• Fast Talk: The Experimenter
• Fast Talk: The Do-It-Yourselfers
• Fast Talk: The Format Buster

Thoughts on digital publishing and this new model.

It is great to see Fast Company engage a powerful new publishing media. And I am really interested to see how well the community will engage with this journalism/community experiment. We engaged a smaller scale trial last year ...READ»