Doubleday, MSNBC.com and HP Create Sneak Preview John Grisham's New Novel

Posted on January 20, 1999

Hewlett-Packard Company has announced that it has teamed up with Doubleday and MSNBC on the Internet to offer MSNBC visitors an new way to preview the upcoming novel from author John Grisham. Printed excerpts of John Grisham's latest book, The Testament will be available on MSNBC.com via HP Instant Delivery software and also will be promoted on the John Grisham website at jgrisham.com.

Visitors to the John Grisham section on MSNBC can download HP's free Internet printing software, Instant Delivery, which will enable them to receive printed excerpts of Grisham's new novel, The Testament. Participants will be directed to the Instant Delivery Web location. There, visitors can download the free software and schedule the book excerpts to be printed automatically to their HP DeskJet printers. Delivery of the excerpts is slated to begin Jan. 28.

Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Doubleday, says in a statement, "John Grisham's The Testament is as surprising and fresh a novel as he has ever written. It's exciting to partner with MSNBC.com and HP to promote his latest book in this equally innovative way."

"We intend for Instant Delivery to become a paradigm shift for the publishing industry," said Antonio Perez, HP vice president and general manager for the Inkjet Products Group. "We feel fortunate to be working with MSNBC.com and Doubleday to provide excerpts written by one of America's favorite authors."

Instant Delivery enables consumers to choose popular online publications or specific Web pages -- and schedule delivery to their home or office printer. At the designated time, Instant Delivery automatically logs onto the publisher's website, and then retrieves and prints the publication in a compact format.