HarperCollins announced yesterday that it is phasing out paper catalogues and replacing them with interactive, online lists of upcoming releases. The publisher plans to launch a beta version of the electronic catalogue in six to twelve months. By summer 2009, HarperCollins spokesperson Erin Crum told Publishers Weekly, the publisher's practice of sending out a hundred thousand paper catalogues to booksellers and librarians for each of the three publishing seasons—summer, winter, and fall—will be a thing of the past (though a limited number of print copies will still be produced).
HarperCollins president Jane Friedman told the Associated Press (AP) that the change is overdue. "We produce thousands and thousands of catalogues, many of which go right into the wastebaskets," she was quoted as saying. "It's such a waste of paper and so inefficient."
Other publishers may not be far behind. "We would do this over time and hopefully with the support of our booksellers," Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum told the AP.
Paperless catalogues will almost certainly be a big topic of converstaion at the industry's annual convention, BookExpo America, which will be held in Los Angeles at the end of the month.
