Looking to highlight and sell books by staff writers and freelance contributors, Slate.com, the online news magazine, turned to its parent company, Microsoft, for an elegant software solution.
Cyrus Krohn, publisher of Slate.com, told PW the site has tweaked its software in order to offer its readers relevant books and other merchandise (PDAs, luggage and much else) at the end of each of its online articles. "If we cover baseball, you'll be able to buy George Will's book, or other stuff. We wanted to provide a one-stop shop for our readers and contributors," Krohn explained. "We have a lot of writers with new books," he added.
In addition, the Web newszine hosts a bookstore (click on Slate's About Us button) that offers a regularly updated selection of books by Slate contributors.
Krohn explained that Slate is part of the Microsoft Network, which provides extensive online shopping services. The books are sold through a variety of online retailers. A reader who clicks through the title link will see a page offering the title from such sites as B&N.com, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart and other retailers, along with the price at each site.
Krohn said about 250,000 readers a month click through to the store pages and Slate receives a micropayment for each book sale. "And it definitely makes a difference to our bottom line," he added. The titles available through the Slate store change regularly, and have included books by contributors Paul Krugman, Judith Shulevitz, A.O. Scott and James Surowiecki.
