The news on Monday from Random House that they’ll be selling individual chapters may be the first program of its kind for one of the big houses, but as I noted on Monday, other publishers (ahem) have been doing it for some time.
Last night during a conversation with some of the guys from HBSP during the TOC Conference, Paul Michelman, the director of content for HarvardBusiness.org, mentioned some impressive numbers from their chapter-sale program, which he’s graciously allowed me to share. Via email:
As promised, here’s the sales data on our chapters program:
Over 60,000 chapter sold. We started with 5 books in november 2006, now over 60 books available in chapters and adding 20 books (new and [backlist]) every quarter.
It’s worth noting too that HBSP’s chapters, like O’Reilly’s, are DRM-free.
P.S. — Paul is also the host of the excellent IdeaCast podcast.