Today’s New York Times reports that Random House will establish an all-digital unit which will distribute e-Books and print-on-demand titles. These books will not be distributed through brick and mortar bookstores, but will be sold exclusively online. Consumer prices will be slightly lower than trade paperbacks for e-Books and slighlty higher for print-on-demand titles. Author royalties will be 15% for e-Books and 7.5% for print-on-demand titles. Random plans to launch the unit in January with 20 titles. At least one agent, Robert Gotleib, feels that the royalty structure Random plans to offer is slightly askew, “There is a tremendous reduction in overhead from printing, distribution and all of that, and authors aren’t enjoying the benefits of the increased profitability.”
To facilitate and promote the writing, publishing, and reading of literature in electronic media