Publisher steps blinking into the light

As someone who spends a considerable amount of the day on the Project Gutenberg site, I’m quite excited that HarperCollins (US) is launching a test “Full Access” Program whereby whole books by leading authors can be viewed free for a month online (but not downloadable).

The idea is that just as readers in a bookshop will reader some of a book before buying it, online shoppers will be able to read as much of the book as they want, before following a link to buy it (the online copy will have the print option disabled).

There are some big literary names included (Paul Coelho pictured, and Neil Gaiman) and follows on from a HarperCollins initiative called The “Sneak Peek” program, which, you’ve guessed it, allows a ‘sneak peek’ at excerpts from some books two weeks before publication.
Of course, the company freely admit that they don’t expect many people to read the full book online, and will be monitoring how this program affects the sales of these books, but it is nice to see a publisher who is actively engaging with the internet, instead of seeing it as a behemoth come to bring the destruction of the publishing industry.

It contrasts with a new Random House project being tested, which will see small sections of books offered for a fee. As far as I can see, this approach is doomed to failure. The struggle and failure of newspaper websites that charged for content shows that there is an unwillingness to pay for online content, when we would be happy to pay for the same content in print.

Ultimately, the book publishing industry is going to have to evolve (just as it always has), to deal with changes in society. Despite the image of the stuffy traditional industry, publishers are now huge multinational companies, well able to make a contribution to changing media. Let us hope that there are more initiatives like this, as otherwise the doom and gloom will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.