So do magazine excerpts sell books? And how about free excerpts on Amazon.com? Such issues come up in a New York Times piece just published in the IHT. “Although excerpts from high-profile books still routinely appear in magazines, some publishers have been having second thoughts about the strategy. Frequently, an excerpt can offer a nice lift to a book’s sales, but there is always the risk that it may offer too much, thus stealing thunder — and revenue — from the book.” There! I trust I haven’t stolen too much thunder from the Times.
A prime example given is Vanity Fair’s 8,200-word except from The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown. Whoops. More stolen thunder.
Related: Adam Hodgkin‘s argument that ad-only support won’t work for smaller Web publications, and Jon Noring’s response. Quote from Hodgkin: “The average reader of Sports Illustrated delivers about $118 to the bottom line in Time Inc. The average very engaged user of SI.com can generate about $5 in advertising contribution.”
