Sourcebooks is testing a new model in which it is selling early access to books connected with the soap opera Days of Our Lives. Although CEO Dominique Raccah said “very few” people have paid $9.95 to become members of the DaysInsider Early Access program so far, it’s “significantly more than we expected.”

The program launched earlier this month as a subscription-based Web site that gives fans early access to two new books in the publisher’s Days of Our Lives series. The promotion coincides with the show’s 45th anniversary. Earlier this year, Sourcebooks and Corday Productions, which produces the show, announced a five-book deal consisting of a memoir, a 45th anniversary commemorative coffee table book, and a fiction series extending storylines featured on the show.

For $9.95, subscribers to the DaysInsider Early Access program (at www.DaysInsider.com) receive early online access, in four weekly installments, to two forthcoming books. The first is A Secret in Salem by Sheri Anderson, a $14.99 trade paperback that pubs November 9 and is the first installment in the Salem’s Secrets, Scandals, and Lies fiction series; the second is Days of Our Lives 45 Years: A Celebration in Photos by Greg Meng and Eddie Campbell, a $29.99 hardcover which pubs November 8. Once the books are published, subscribers may buy the print versions of those two books--as well as The Days of Our Lives: The True Story of One Family's Dream and The Untold History of Days of Our Lives by Ken Corday and a limited number of signed copies of Days of Our Lives 45 Years--at a discount that varies for each title but is at least 30% off. Subscribers can also participate in online chats with the authors, actors and writers from the show

Asked what Sourcebooks’ expectations are for the promotion, CEO Dominique Raccah said, “Days of Our Lives is a big world.” She called the promotion “long-term,” explaining, “We’re developing it as we go on. Our goal is to build a community for Days Of Our Lives that’s more participatory. We’ll allow people to post their fan fiction about Days Of Our Lives and have them tell us what they’d like us to publish.”

Sourcebooks plans to run similar promotions with other books in the future.