The Bookseller.com

7th September 2008

PFD turns to POD to rejuvenate list

17.07.08 Alison Flood

Literary agency PFD is launching its first tranche of print-on-demand titles later this month, in association with p.o.d. specialist Lightning Source.

The initiative, overseen by agent Marcella Edwards, kicks off on 21st July with eight titles. This will be followed up by around 10 further titles a month, with pricing ranging from £10 to £15 depending on length.

The books will be sold through Amazon, Bertrams and Gardners online, and a new microsite on PFD's own website. Promotion will be on an individual book basis, and a generic book jacket has been designed for all the titles by Jason Morgan.

"This is a service to get these authors back into print—it's an innovative way of looking after our estates," said Edwards, who joined PFD from Penguin Classics earlier this year. "The plan is to use the sales figures we get for these books to re-present them to publishers a year on."

She said that PFD would have to sell 30–40 copies of a book for the initiative to be financially viable. "But it's not a money-making exercise," she added. "We are certainly not turning publisher. This is absolutely about looking after our authors and estates' interests. We are the ones taking the hit in the first instance—it's really good to have these titles in print that would otherwise not be."

PFD POD: THE LAUNCH LIST
Sun Child by Angela Huth
Monday Lunch in Fairyland and Other Stories by Angela Huth
The Social Psychology of Religion by Michael Argyle
Journey from the North: Volumes 1 and 2 by Storm Jameson
The Hidden River by Storm Jameson
Marching Spain by V S Pritchett
Approach to Farming by Frances Donaldson
Four Years Harvest by Frances Donaldson

Rights PFD Print on demand Alison Flood

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