HarperCollins Launches Comprehensive Backlist Program in Nine Independent Bookstores

Posted on January 12, 2012

HarperCollins announced the launch of its new Comprehensive Backlist Program today. The program uses the Espresso Book Machine (EBM) which is in place nine independent bookstores so far. The program allows bookstores to sell an author's entire backlist at one time. Some of the books stocked will be physical. Other books will be available in-store using the Digital-to-Print at Retail (DPR) by using the Espresso Book Machine. The print on demand machine works at the touch of a button. It can created a paperback book with a color cover in minutes.

The program launched in these bookstores today: Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA; McNally Jackson, New York, NY; Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, VT; Politics and Prose, Washington, DC; Schuler Books & Music, Grand Rapids, MI; Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO; Third Place Books, Seattle, WA; University Book Store, Seattle, WA; and Village Books, Bellingham, WA. Each store printed a first-run, print-on-demand copy of Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett to celebrate the launch. The goal is to get the machines -- and the full HarperCollins backlist available in all independent bookstores.

Josh Marwell, President of Sales for HarperCollins, had this to say about the program: "Physical bookstores, as the recent robust holiday sales have shown, remain a critical channel for customers to discover and buy print books, and we want all HarperCollins titles to be available there, whether carried regularly on shelves or now via print-on-demand machines. The program is a win for authors, who will have more books available in stores, and for booksellers, who will be able to immediately sell many more titles to customers without the limits of physical space and inventory dollars."