Believing that e-books and print-on-demand technology have reached a
tipping point with the public, Messrs. Oakes and Robinson will launch
OR Books this fall as a Web-only house selling straight to consumers.
The plan is to operate at a drastically reduced cost--blowing up a
model whose inefficiencies have helped make this past year so painful
for publishers large and small. The Association of American Publishers
reports that revenues from adult hardcovers fell 16% through April,
while revenues from adult trade paperbacks plunged 26%, compared with
the same period a year ago.
Some specialty publishers have built businesses around e-books, but
OR would be the first general-interest press to try the model. The
partners are betting that the new-media opportunities that all book
people are rushing to exploit will let a startup thrive even in a
dismal retail environment.
"The whole system of stuffing as many books as you can into

stores, whether or not buyers want them--it's broken," says Mr. Oakes,
who co-founded and ran the left-leaning Four Walls Eight Windows for 17
years. The press disappeared in an indie shakeout in 2007. A stint as
executive editor at Atlas & Co. ended last fall when the small
publisher ran into financing problems.

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mirel dandi
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