Book People Archive

ARTICLE: At Random: Random House's pioneering digital imprint

Posted today at CBC's arts webpages

from: http://infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/special_coverage/ebooks2001/ebook_pt1.phtml

PART ONE: At Random: Random House's pioneering
                      digital imprint
by DEBORAH VIETS - iCulture

Although other publishers have made digitized
versions of their hardcovers available, Random
House is the first major publisher to
commission books especially for the e-format.

TORONTO - Random House recently won the race to
launch the first major line of digital books.
Hot on its heels is Time Warner, which will
soon release its own electronic imprint, called
iPublish.com.

Although other publishers have been making
digitized versions of their best-selling
hardcovers available for several years now,
none of them has commissioned a series of books
especially for the electronic format.
Random House's new e-book imprint is called At
Random, and it consists of an eclectic mix of
20 titles. Several of the e-books were released
last week. Among them are Radical Sanity, a
self-help book by Prozac Nation author
Elizabeth Wurtzel, which offers advice to the
young and perplexed, and a quirky first-hand
account of a dominatrix's life called Mistress
Ruby Ties It Together by first-time author
Robin Shamberg.

At Random's catalogue varies widely in terms of
subject matter and genre, but technology is a
frequent motif that runs through it. For
example, in Digitopia, psychologist Richard
DeGrandpre looks at how digital life is
changing the way we think. In King of the
Angels Gary Rivlin, author of The Plot to Get
Bill Gates, describes the ways of Silicon
Valley's greatest "angel" investor.

And in an anthology of short stories called Men
Seeking Women: Love and Sex On-line, authors
like Po Bronson and Alexander Parsons, write
about relationships that develop in the world
of chat rooms, porn sites and other cyber-
landscapes.

The new electronic imprint also includes
several biographies of contemporary figures,
like pop singer Bjork and hockey legend Mark
Messier. In addition, At Random will publish
collections of essays and magazine articles by
such journalists as Harper's editor Lewis
Lapham and The New Yorker's Tad Friend.

The At Random titles are also available as
print-on-demand trade paperbacks, which can be
special-ordered from booksellers. The books,
which look like conventional trade paperbacks,
are printed in small quantities at Random
House's distribution centre in Maryland and
then shipped to the stores. However, the
paperback editions will not be available until
one month after the launch of the e-book in
question. According to Lisa Charters, director
of online sales and marketing at Random House
of Canada, "this is so the publisher can gauge
the success of an e-only edition in the
market."

One factor that might limit the success of the
digital books is the fact that they do not
capitalize on the multimedia capabilities
electronic publishing offers, such as
hyperlinks and graphics. Charters says this is
partly because "the e-books are available in
several formats, some of which can't support
hyperlinks." However, she adds that there is an
upcoming At Random directory of websites that
will likely incorporate hyperlinks.

The e-books cost $9.95 US and the first 10 vary
in length from about 85 pages to 300 pages. The
next 10 will run to about 85 pages, a length
that is well suited to the online format. The
intention, ultimately, is to make the books
longer than, say, a New Yorker or Atlantic
magazine article but shorter than the average
printed book.

At Random's titles can be purchased at U.S.-
based online bookstores, such as Amazon.com and
Barnes and Noble.com. Canadians wanting to shop
closer to home should be able to buy them from
Chapters.ca later this year.

 (End.)

[Moderator:  The URL for "AtRandom.com" is
 http://www.randomhouse.com/atrandom/categories/ebook/
 For some reason, the server isn't coming back for me on any
 of the actual content pages, but it appears that they provide free excerpts,
 but charge to provide the full content, either electronically or in
 paperback.  Their formats page mentions that they're providing at
 least some titles in PDF, as well as in various proprietary locked formats.

 The article above is copyright CBC/SRC, 2001.  CBC allows noncommercial
 copying provided that copyright ownership is acknowledged.  See
 http://cbc.ca/aboutcbc/discover/copyright.html for more details. - JMO]