Powell’s to Launch Subscription Club

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 1/29/2008 6:23:00 AM

Later this winter, Powell’s Books will begin a new subscription service under the IndieSpensable banner. According to Dave Weich, director of marketing and development, the program will feature a package that will include a signed first edition of a new title plus other materials that could range from a DVD, a zine or sample chapters from a work-in-progress. The entire package will be sold for $39.95.

IndieSpensable will kickoff in March with Lydia Millet’s How the Dead Dream, published by Counterpoint Press, which is doing a custom cover of the title. Powell’s is limiting the number of copies in the program to 200, with about 25 of those going to bloggers and other media members to help promote the book and service, Weich said. Packages will be sent every six weeks and subscribers can opt out of at anytime.

Powell’s will consider both fiction and nonfiction titles for the program and is looking to focus on titles from independent houses. Weich said he is close to signing deals for the next three selections and is open to hearing from other publishers about their participation in the program. “We think this [IndieSpensable] could help move the needle for certain books,” Weich said.

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