DC Commuters to Get Free Book Excerpts  

By Edward Nawotka -- Publishers Weekly, 4/4/2008 9:31:00 AM

Starting May 5, Washington D.C. commuters will find Bit o’ Lit thrust into their hands as they make the trek down the escalators into the Metro. The new twice-monthly free magazine is expected to offer 32 pages of book excerpts, as well as reviews of films adapted from books, local literary listings and brief author profiles. Bit-O-Lit will be published every other Monday in a minimum first printing of 20,000 copies. The magazine will be supported by advertising and publishers pay to place excerpts on a cost-per-page basis.

The inaugural issue will feature selections from National Book Award nominee, Sold by Patricia McCormick (Hyperion Books for Children), two thrillers -- Rubicon by Lawrence Alexander (Morrow) and The Last Oracle by James Rollins (Morrow), and the DC-centric The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Presidential Power by Gene Healy (Cato Institute).

“Commuters are the ideal audience for this kind of thing,” said the publisher, Shannon MacDonald. “It’s one of the few times you can capture a reader’s full attention and a great way to expose them to new works.” In addition to hawkers at Metro stops, Bit o’ Lit will be distributed via news kiosks and local bookstores.