Dominique Raccah, Sourcebooks publisher, announced this morning at the opening panel of the Digital Book World conference in New York City that the Chicagoland publishing company is creating an Agile Publishing Model [APM] for certain nonfiction books and other content written by experts. Under the new model, publishing will be a process: three or four chapters at a time of the selected titles will first be released as e-books; eventually, the entire book will be released in print and e-book formats. This will allow experts in rapidly evolving fields to make their content available faster and to receive real-time feedback from their audiences. This response in turn will shape the final product.
“It’s meant to be a platform for experts immersed in a community,” Raccah told PW. “The traditional publishing model, with a turnaround that takes a while, frustrates authors who are experts, because their fields change all the time.”
Entering the Shift Age by futurist, advisor, and speaker David Houle is the first Sourcebooks title to be released under the APM. Entering the Shift Age will be published this fall. Sourcebooks will begin releasing e-books and other content from Houle in the coming months. A blog for readers to review and discuss Houle’s work during the process has been set up at www.enteringtheshiftage.com.
Digital Book World attendees will receive an exclusive e-book download, featuring an excerpt from The Shift Age, and a compilation of Houle’s publishing-related columns. They also will be invited to join the Entering the Shift Age blog.
Houle is one of the featured speakers at this year’s Digital Book World. “One of the reasons we are really excited to announce this new model at Digital Book World is that we will be able to test it with individuals who are interested in new, innovative ways to bring content to readers,” Raccah said. “This is community building on the front end of a book.”
