Liate Stehlik

One of the biggest success stories in U.S. publishing in recent years has been the continued growth of digital book publishing. Last year, total revenue for e-book sales in the United States reached $3.04 billion, a 44.2% increase on 2011′s numbers and a figure all the more impressive when you realize that growth is additive to the print publishing industry. Even more surprising, publishers have focused much of their attention on genres like sci-fi, fantasy, mystery and romance fiction – markets that have traditionally lagged behind “literary fiction” in terms of sales.


HarperCollins’ William Morrow division will launch Witness, a digital-first imprint for mysteries and thrillers, this October, the company announced Tuesday. Witness is part of HarperCollins’ “Impulse” line of books, which also includes digital-first romance, sci-fi/fantasy and young adult books.

The idea behind digital-first lines is that they let publishers take a chance on unknown or new authors…

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