Sterling Does It Itself (And With a Partner)

by Steven Zeitchik, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 12/20/2004

How-to publishers have become the unlikely models for cross-medium deals. Meredith and Discovery/The Learning Channel. Taunton and public television. And now, Sterling and a cable channel called the DIY Network.

The B&N-owned house has signed a deal with the network, a channel on digital cable that focuses on home improvement, gardening and the like. The plan is for eight books per year, beginning next fall.

DIY shows will inform the contents of Sterling's books, with hosts and editors working on the projects. No word on whether it will go the other way around, with shows being created by book editors.

Similar deals, such as the one Meredith has involving programs like Trading Spaces, have proven effective in ways beyond the one-off tie-in, as books come earlier and more systematically from the programs, and sometimes with greater cooperation from producers. In the Taunton deal, which is smaller in scale, the show Inspired House not only feeds books, but books, in the Old Media model, help provide content for the show.

This article originally appeared in the December 17, 2004 issue of PW Daily for Booksellers. For more information about PW Daily, including a sample and subscription information, click here »

« Back | Print