When Random House editor Jon Karp announced Random House's first e-book list last summer, he got his usual frothy reception, with ebullient stories in several media outlets. And for good reason, too. The nonfiction titles from AtRandom were supposed to revive a format that hadn't been seen since the old New Yorker, running between 50 and 100 pages. They would give electronic editions the edge, coming out a month prior to the print book. And they would be written by the kind of high-profile authors with whom Karp had become associated, like Po Bronson, Tad Friend, Lewis Lapham and Elizabeth Wurtzel.

But now, 10 months later—a period in which Karp left and then returned to the book business—the AtRandom list is showing less of the eccentricity it once had. While still technically an e-book line, it increasingly walks and quacks like any other large-publisher imprint, in a change new AtRandom editorial director Mary Bahr described as a "fine-tuning." (Bahr took over from Karp, who has since returned to the full-time job of editing hardcovers.)

Gone is the early e-publication; all books will be simultaneously released as both e-books and trade paperbacks. MIA, too, is the 50—100-page length that was originally planned. Few of the books will clock in at less than 200 pages, though Bahr said there is no "strict length requirement." Nor will marquee names abound. One of the touted upcoming titles? Miss Vera's Cross-Dress for Success, Veronica Vera's sequel to Boys Who Want to Be Girls. Other books on tap include a homeopathic guide, a compendium of medical Web sites and a tutorial on personal finance. Bahr did say the AtRandom list will retain an e-book character in how it will "exploit, editorially, the digital medium." For example, the book on medical Web sites by Ian Smith, the Today show physician, will have direct links to the listed URLs.

The imprint, for reasons that are likely financial as much as ideological, has returned to its parent's more profitable bedrock of publishing print books. Bahr listed a number of explanations for the shift. "We're not a magazine publisher," she said. "We're a book publisher. A title that's 50 pages long is not a book." As for the simultaneous publication, Bahr said the dual release dates were hurting authors. "Reviewers were very confused by it," she noted.

But the new approach might carry a downside for authors. Gary Rivlin, author of The Plot to Kill Bill Gates and the upcoming original e-book titled The King of the Angels—about investor Ron Conway's shrewd ability to coax $250 million in investment from the likes of Shaquille O'Neal—describes Random's original idea as a bold and necessary undertaking. "My story [on Conway] needs more than a magazine piece, but it doesn't deserve 250 pages. If the Random e-book list hadn't come along, I couldn't have told this story." Rivlin is squeezed into a peculiar place, at the unfortunate intersection of two current publishing phenomena—nomadic editors and electronic repositioning. His book was signed up and edited by Karp, though it won't come out until the fall, where it will sit schizophrenically alongside some of Bahr's titles.

At the same time, Bahr's new direction might also give heart to some authors. With the debut list, the combination of a high-priced author and a low advance in many cases meant titles reconstituted from older material. (An e-mail from a Random staffer at the time of the creation of the launch list solicited e-book submissions with the line "We pay a whopping $10,000 for e-books, so most people who sign on for this are mostly recycling material they have already created for another publisher.")

The new list, since it will feature lesser-knowns, might also offer more truly original material. "A lot of startups went under because they were paying large amounts of money to huge names," Bahr said. "We want to concentrate on acquiring books that appeal strongly to communities on the Net."