If Random House decides to sell to consumers directly, it would be far from the first publisher to do so, and not even the first major house. Penguin has been allowing visitors to its Web site to buy direct for almost the entire year. The books are sold at full price and Penguin adds shipping and handling charges. And most small and medium-size publishers also give visitors the chance to buy books directly from their sites. Many publishers run special sales, offer discounts and include Amazon-like look-inside-the-book features. While online sales generally are small, independent publishers view them as crucial incremental revenue that adds to the bottom line. The key to making direct sales an even more meaningful sales channel, publishers agree, is finding ways to drive customers to their sites.