21st-century publishing builds on a healthy radical tradition

The Guardian reporting: Far from killing off the book, the digital age is proving a boon to innovative publishers and authors, many of whom are using new technology to breathe life back into old ideas. Here, we survey four of the most interesting ventures,,
...From the yoking together of these two ideas – online pledging in the music business, and old-fashioned subscription publishing – Unbound Books was born. The site, launched last May, acts as a forum for authors to pitch books directly to readers, who, if they like the sound of a project, commit money right away, before the book has even been written. Each book has a target number of pledges it must receive to be viable (generally between 500 and 1,000). When you click on a book on the site, you are shown how many pledges it needs in total, and the percentage it has so far received. You can then pledge your support at a number of levels: from buying the ebook (generally £10), through purchasing the hardback (usually £20) or a signed copy (£50), all the way up to being invited to the launch party (typically £150) or, sometimes, going on an excursion with the author.
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The company's first priority, then, was to build up a healthy flow of traffic – which is why, as their first author, they recruited ex-Python Terry Jones, who successfully pitched Evil Machines, a collection of dark, surreal stories. Jones was followed by other well-known names: Tibor Fischer, Jonathan Meades, Kate Mosse – all of whom made their targets.
So far, the company has had nine books funded (of which only Jones's and Fischer's have actually been published), with another 10 in the pledging phase, including a sci-fi novel by Red Dwarf star Robert Llewellyn. Traffic has been impressive: last month, the site attracted more than 200,000 unique users. Pollard reports that interest from authors has been "huge". And, surprisingly, agents have been enthusiastic.
"We initially thought agents would be wary, because they wouldn't want to anger other publishers. But they have come to us offering all sorts of things, especially books by authors who have some following but could be established a bit further, or well-known authors who have a left-hand project," he says....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/18/book-publishing-digital-radical-pioneers