Random House is the latest publisher to replace paper catalogues with digital editions. Random will begin the transition with its Random House Children’s Books division’s summer 2012 list which reps will start selling in January. The three adult groups will begin using all digital catalogues for their fall 2012 lists which the company will start selling in April.
According to RH spokesperson Stuart Applebaum, the publisher’s goal “is to transition to paperless catalogues as our primary, broadest, and most effective platforms for presenting a complete, continuously updated seasonal overview of our forthcoming frontlists to our accounts and to our other constituencies.”
HarperCollins was the first major house to move to digital catalogues in 2009. Macmillan and Simon & Schuster are moving to digital catalogues next spring.
The move to digital cataglogues will make title information more timely and be cheaper to produce with Random using the savings to invest more in its consumer-centered sales and marketing programs, Applebaum said.
For most of its accounts, Random is encouraging them to use Edelweiss to access the catalogues. For booksellers, Random also will continue to host its forthcoming title information on randomhouse.biz which contains searchable, sortable titles and metadata. In addition, the randomhouse.com site will continue to post new-title information through the hosting of the publishing divisions’ respective Websites. There also will be areas on the platform for Libraries, Special Markets, International, and Educators to receive information relevant to their channels.
