Bookshop entrepreneur Tim Waterstone has finally conceded the future may be digital and joined the board of a new online book venture.
Read Petite will begin trading in the autumn to capitalise on a rising demand its founders have identified for short stories that can be read on handheld devices such as Amazon's Kindle. Waterstone has been appointed as a non-executive at the firm and former editor of the Bookseller magazine Neill Denny is chief operating officer.
The site will launch officially next Tuesday at the London Book Fair. The strategy includes a plan to serialise books in a similar way to those published by Charles Dickens that were originally written weekly and utilised plot cliff-hangers.
Tim Waterstone founded the Waterstone's bookshop in 1982 after leaving WH Smith, disaffected and with a £6,000 redundancy cheque. He sold it for £9 million in 1993 but has since tried to buy the chain back several times before joining a successful bid from Russian oligarch Alexander Mamut two years ago.
He has been a vocal supporter of books and bookshops in the face of the online rivals. At first he dismissed the threat of e-books but has more recently insisted the books industry embrace the opportunity and even admits he recently bought a Kindle.
Last year he slammed Amazon for its aggressive business tactics that have enabled it to dominate the industry. He also complained about its 'tax structures' and said its global tax arrangements were 'grotesquely unfair' on High Street bookshops.
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