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May 5, 2007

Headline to Publish Debut Novel Online for Free

It's interesting to take a look at what's happening in the general book publishing arena. The publisher Headline plans to publish Simon Spurrier's debut novel, Contract, online in six weekly installments, with free access.

Piers Blofeld, editor of Headline's new generation fiction list, says Headline is the first mainstream commercial publisher to make such a move and from 24th May in six weekly installments Contract will be available on the dedicated site: www.itsallaboutthemoney.co.uk.

"'Contract' was one of those very rare submissions that had me literally jumping out of my chair with excitement," said Blofeld. "The publishing industry has been tiptoeing around publishing books online. While there are obvious issues for publishers, the main point for me is that what writers need above all else is readers. With his comics background and established online presence, the fact that Simon has the perfect profile for this kind of venture, is a bonus; as is the fact the book will resonate with a particularly large market demographic of internet users."

As a writer for 2000AD comics since he was 17, Spurrier already has his own cult following and was voted top new writer in the 2004 UK Comic Industry Awards. Spurrier's central character has beaten his novel online, however – hitman Michael Point already has a blog on Myspace.

Contract is available at www.itsallaboutthemoney.co.uk from 24th May 07 . It is out in hardback on June 4th 2007, £19.99, 9780755335886.

Booktrade.info 5/3/07

Posted by P. Kaufman at May 5, 2007 8:13 AM