Subscriptions: They're Not Just for Magazines Anymore

So states the Huffington Post's Mark Coggins who suggests that perhaps it's a model book publishing should re-introduce like they did years back.

From the piece...

Although popular in the 19th Century when bookstores were confined to large cities, the subscription sales model has been little used in modern publishing -- until now. Seth Harwood, who established his own author platform by making available podcast readings of his novels available for free to thousands of listeners, has signed with independent publisher Tyrus Books to do a special subscription edition of Young Junius.

In this age of eBooks and print on demand (POD) technologies, the benefits of the approach may not be obvious. But as I mentioned in an earlier post, releasing fewer books of higher quality for a select audience can have advantages over the mass-market-oriented, swing-for-the-fences mentality that now grips mainstream publishing.

In the first place, the subscription edition reduces cost -- and risk -- for Tyrus by limiting the initial print run to the number presold to Harwood's fans. And as compared to POD -- the only alternative to precisely match the number of books printed to the demand--it produces a much higher quality book at a cheaper cost. In fact, the subscription edition of Young Junius will be cloth-bound and feature special artwork on the front and back covers, and will incorporate scene-setting photographs of the real locations where the story takes place.

Finally, Harwood is offering to personalize the inscription of each book ordered, cinching the relationship between author, publisher and reader much closer than the one engendered when a book is randomly snatched off a stack at the local Costco.