Gene Therapy
• Two separate case studies explored the uncharted waters of distributing unprotected or free digital content: Hachette Book Group by testing (with so-far-encouraging results) the distribution of digital audio without digital rights management protection, and Random House by announcing a free giveaway on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” of digital copies in English and Spanish of a best-seller—in this case Suze Orman’s “Women and Money.” The experiment propelled the book, which had begun to see slowing sales, back into best-seller status. Both of these cases are instructive about how each publisher measured the potential risk/reward, and the unique factors that led to success—and that may not apply in other instances.
Eugene G. Schwartz is editor at large for ForeWord Reviews, an industry observer and an occasional columnist for Book Business magazine. In an earlier career, he was in the printing business and held production management positions at Random House, Prentice-Hall/Goodyear and CRM Books/Psychology Today. A former PMA (IBPA) board member, he has headed his own publishing consultancy, Consortium House. He is also Co-Founder of Worthy Shorts Inc., a development stage online private press and publication service for professionals as well as an online back office publication service for publishers and associations. He is on the Publishing Business Conference and Expo Advisory Board.