Writers have experimented before with publishing their books, or parts of their books, online, but now for the first time a mainstream UK publisher, Headline, is doing this with a book called Contract, written by Simon Spurrier. The material will appear on the site, www.itsallaboutthemoney.co.uk, which goes live in about two weeks (hmm, in terms of internet marketing, wouldn't it have been better to have the title of the book in the name of the website?).
In the (London) Times, Piers Blofeld, of Headline, said: "The publishing industry has been tiptoeing around publishing books online. While there are obvious issues for publishers, the main point for me is that above all else, writers need readers." Blofeld denied making a commercial mistake.
The book will be online for a limited time, and the website will also sell the complete book for those who don't want to wait.
There has been a lot of debate about whether doing this is shooting yourself in the foot. Internet guru Seth Godin is a believer that offering your work for free on the web stimulates interest in the paid-for version, but his material is all non-fiction. Watch this space, we'll be tracking the results because they have implications for any writers trying to figure out today's confusing marketplace (that's me and you).
ps: If you're wondering what the rocket ship to the left has to do with anything...initially I thought the Spurrier book was science fiction. It seems actually to be more of a crime thriller with metaphysical elements, but I still like the rocket ship.
