HC Large-Print Line Targets Boomers
by Jim Milliot, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 11/28/2006
HarperCollins is relaunching its line of large-print titles today with the debut of HarperLuxe. HC has redesigned the large-print titles to make them more appealing to readers, especially baby boomers, said publisher Liate Stehlik. "We want to move large-print titles beyond their traditional audience," which typically has been the visually handicapped and older Americans, Stehlik said. "We want to give baby boomers and others a nicer reading experience."
The redesigned titles will have a 14-point font, slightly smaller than the 16-point used in traditional large-print books, and the leading will be the same size as traditional large print titles. The smaller font will be offset by a crisper design, Stehlik said.
The first HarperLuxe title will be Michael Crichton's Next, released today. HC is releasing the large-print edition of Next in trade paperback simultaneously with the publication of the regular print size hardcover, a policy it will follow with all HarperLuxe books. The price will also be the same as the hardcover ($27.95 for Next).
Since bookstores tend to give limited space to large-print books, Stehlik sees the largest market for HarperLuxe as online retailers, and the company is working with several e-tailers, including Amazon, to promote the imprint. Among its promotional efforts is a Web site that will be up later today highlighting the differences between traditional large-print titles and HarperLuxe.
Stehlik said she hopes to do about 100 titles annually under the HarperLuxe imprint, nearly triple the output in recent years. Fiction bestsellers will be a staple of the line, but the imprint will feature nonfiction titles and other works that might appeal to baby boomers, Stehlik said. "We won't be doing Meg Cabot titles in large print," she observed.
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