Financial Times Press, a unit of Person, has just introduced two series of short, digital-only books for professionals who want a condensed version of the text. Timothy Moore, publisher of FT Press, says “It’s a good idea to be able to provide people with shorter, more expedient, more time-sensitive content.”
Its Element series is for already published works, stripped down to 1000-2000 word versions, and sells for $1.99. Its Shorts series is based on newly published works, with about 5,000 words, and priced at $2.99. FT Press has begun marketing these works through Kindle electronic bookstore on Amazon, and through Barnes and Noble’s e-book store. To spur sales, Amazon has already discounted the price of Shorts to $2.39 and Elments to $1.39. Barnes and Noble has kept the publisher’s pricing.
Some of the business titles include “Reengineering the Rules of Management,” by James Champy, “Keeping it Honest, from Kitchen to Coca-Cola,” by Seth Goldman. FT Press has already published 242 titles and plans to have 500 by the end of the year. Specifics about publishing fees and royalties are not available. Some fear that these condensed versions of the texts could cannibalize sales of traditional books. However, Mr. Champy says there are some individuals who only want access to certain elements of your work, and don’t have the appetite to read a long, serious business book.
I don’t know about you, but it certainly sounds like something worth exploring, given its low cost, easy access, and digital interface. I’ll be interested to see what business book titles and information will be available.
(New York Times, "Kindle Books in Snack Size,” article, 2/8/10)
No comments:
Post a Comment