The WSJ ran an article last week about a brillant move by Random House to sell chapters of the bestseller Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip & Dan Heath.  Each of the 6 chapters and the tip-filled epilogue are $2.99 each–the intro and index are free with each purchase.

1. The move put the book back into the headlines, didn’t it? If the WSJ is talking about it, others are certain too as well. For a book that’s been out for more than a year, that’s a great thing.

2. The money RH makes is essentially pure profit because there are virtually no costs in creating the chapter pdfs–and no money to be paid to the retailer. (I hope the authors were savvy enough to include electronic royalties in their deal.) 

3. People who are tired of buying disappointing books are happy they can sample it first. And if they end up buying each chapter individually, RH is getting $20.93 for the book versus the $16.47 Amazon is charging.

4. Everyone that buys an individual chapter goes onto RH’s email mailing list (unless you opt out). And being able to market similar titles directly to the reader is a huge advantage for the publisher, even if the reader ends up buying the title through Amazon or another outlet.  

Overall, Random House will probably see increased sales of the book, and highly profitable sales from people who go the individual chapter route, plus enhance it’s ability to market directly to readers they know are interested in these topics. Finally, given that the book publishing industry is not one that’s usually known for innovation, its a move worthy of some serious buzz–and stickiness.