Selling pop culture one chapter at a time

Gonzo pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman has stumbled into a new way to redistribute his books: One chapter at a time using an iTunes-like model of charging 99 cents a pop.

I say stumbled because on this Soundcheck interview (stream above), Klosterman doesn't even know where people can download his work using this new model.

I had to find out by searching Google, finally landing at a "Chuck Klosterman eCollection" page on the Simon and Schuster website.

Once there, the site is easy to use, with bright colors and clear titles enticing one to buy. If you're familiar with Klosterman's books, you know he has the attention span of, well, me. Which means he hops from subject to subject, with book topics running the gamut from Britney Spears to Lakers basketball. Thankfully, in addition to being able to buy e-book chapters ala carte, he sells $7.99 bundles of columns package by topics like sports, rock, pop, media and culture.

Klosterman, ever playing the clueless scribe, tells "Soundcheck" he's unaware of any sales through this new distribution network. And the economics of selling 1,000 downloads will earn him $100, hardly riches for an author so popular. But taking new approaches to distribution these days is worth trying, and a great way to extend his catalog in new ways, on new platforms, to new audiences.

Klosterman's diverse work certainly makes it easier to publish individual chapters than say, Harry Potter or "War and Peace." I've tried to think through the possibilities of selling our newspaper content by segment (say sports or entertainment) for those readers who don't want the full faucet, and while I think there's probably a small audience that's want that, I'm not sure the ROI is there, at least based on our current content mix. 

As for me and Klosterman, I'm torn between starting with the "Media and Culture" bundle or going straight to the tantalizingly titled chapter "George Will vs. Nick Hornby." Which should I choose?