Polish publishers trailblaze with subscription model

Forty-two Polish publishers teamed up with Slovak startup Piano Media to create a subscription-based online publishing platform. The model is similar to cable television as in users can pay based on what type of books they are interested in. This type of project has been launched in Slovakia and Slovenia, but Poland will be the first sizable population to test this model. One challenge to the project is the fact that many people in Poland do not use credit cards, narrowing potential users. This experiment comes as major book publishers struggle to find ground in the digital world. Avon books, a subsidiary of HarperCollins recently launched a full-fledged online site. Several French publishers joined the selective online content aggregator La Place last month to attract more digital readers.