Avon Adds Video to e-Books; More Original Erotica Coming
-- Publishers Weekly, 8/20/2007 1:01:00 PM
HarperCollins continues to experiment with different e-book features. On September 4, HC’s Avon Books imprint will release popular romance author Victoria Alexander’s Lady Amelia’s Secret Lover as an e-book original. To add spice to the title, Avon is adding embedded video that will feature Alexander discussing the e-book’s plot and characters at various points in the story. “We’re always trying to find ways to get the interest of romance readers,” noted Pam Spengler-Jaffee, director of publicity, paperbacks.
Theresa Horner, director of e-book operations for HC, said romance readers are among its most tech savvy customers. Not only do they read e-books, “but they respond, too. They let you known what they like and don’t like.” Last June, Avon introduced original e-book epilogues to two Julia Quinn titles and released another two earlier this year. The e-books, about 30 pages long, sell for $1.99 and have been well received by Quinn’s fan, Horner said.
Lady Amelia will sell for $3.99, and Spengler-Jaffee said Avon has started to promote the title through various online marketing initiatives. The e-book will also include a preview of Alexander’s next paperback, Secrets of a Proper Lady, due out late next month. Horner said HC is working on self-help and science fiction e-books that will also include pop up author videos.
Romance readers are also the core audience for another original e-book line created by HC earlier this summer. HarperBlush, working with the Avon Red imprint, released four original erotica e-books last month with four more coming out August 21, said Horner. The first four e-books—Magic and Mayhem, Another Door, Sleeping with the Enemy and Just One Taste--were originally priced at $3.99, but will now sell at $2.99, the same price as the new e-books. Avon is promoting the titles through ads on nerve.com and Romantic Times. The author’s are also promoting the e-books through their Web sites, blogs and MySpace pages.
