‘Kill Your Darlings’ opens online store
Melbourne-based literary journal Kill Your Darlings (KYD) has opened an online store, which will sell editions of KYD as well as other books and stationery.
The store, which can be accessed from the KYD website, currently sells print and digital editions of KYD but will soon expand to include books that are featured in the KYD book club, as well as stationery and other ‘writerly goods’. KYD editor Rebecca Starford told Books+Publishing that she is also interested in selling books by some of the journal’s regular contributors, although these plans are still being finalised. ‘While functioning as a shop for all of KYD’s publications, we’re keen to grow our retail presence outside of our publishing program and add an extra dimension to our online presence,’ said Starford.
‘The decision to have the store retail items other than KYD editions was motivated by the idea of the store functioning as a kind of virtual “writers corner”, where writers can browse nifty items that we hope will facilitate and inspire writing—from classic titles on the practice of writing to stationery to literary t-shirts,’ said Starford. ‘We want this space to feel inclusive and as interactive as possible. We have, for example, included review bars so customers can leave comments on the products. We’re also keen to retail new items to our current subscribers, who will enjoy discounts on purchases at the store.’
Starford said that the KYD team ‘didn’t really consider partnering with another retailer for the shop’, instead deciding to build on the existing sales of KYD editions and subscriptions, which have been available from the website for some time.
‘While we have very strong relationships with our stockists, who have enthusiastically supported the publication from the beginning, we’ve also always sold print editions of the publication through our website, along with subscriptions of course, so it’s a natural progression for us,’ said Starford. ‘I am envisioning the online shop will grow most with digital sale items, as that suits our growth in online readers and increased content on the site, as well as our general digital development. Given the strong feedback we’re getting from our Writers Workshops, literary trivia nights and other community engagement, we thought the time was right to launch a shop, which actually makes the administration of sales a lot easier as well.’
KYD has also announced that it is now selling its ebooks directly to customers in both EPUB and mobi formats, which is something that Starford said KYD has ‘wanted to do for a long time’. ‘We know more people are reading digitally than ever before, but not everyone reads using Kindles or Apple devices, which means they were essentially missing out on accessing our digital editions,’ said Starford. ‘So we’re trying to accommodate as many readers as possible, and also tap into our growing overseas readership.’
As previously reported by Books+Publishing, KYD began publishing the journal as an ebook at the start of 2012 as part of a broader move to expand its digital offering, which also included making the journal content available online.
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Category: Local news
