Online publishing platform Medium will publish its first print book next week.
A simultaneous print and e-book edition of The Big Disruption, a novel by former Google v-p of communications Jessica Powell, will be published by Medium on April 10, priced at $10 for a trade paperback edition and $5.99 for the e-edition. The book was published online last fall, and is Medium's first full-length book. The platform, which tracks reads of its stories, said the book was read by more than 175,000 people.
The book will be printed on demand, and will be distributed by Stonesong. Promotions, the company said, will come primarily on the Medium platform itself, which has 90 million unique monthly visitors, and through its social channels, including Twitter.
"Our decision to publish former Google executive Jessica Powell's novel The Big Disruption as the first full-length book on Medium exceeded all expectations," Siobhan O'Connor, v-p of editorial at Medium, said in a statement. "It's been so successful we are taking the unprecedented step in publishing a print edition."
Asked if Medium would consider doing another book, a spokesperson told PW, "we'd love to!"
Powell previously published Literary Paris: A Guide with New York Review of Books's travel line, Little Bookroom, and has had her fiction and nonfiction published in outlets such as the Guardian and the New York Times. She has pledged to donate her share of the print proceeds to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. Powell previously donated her proceeds from the books online publication to to #YesWeCode, which works to bring underrepresented communities into the tech sector, and Book Trust, which serves children in low-income areas by helping them to build home libraries.
