NEWS / WINDOWS

MySpace, HarperCollins Collaborate on Book

25 Oct, 2007, 6:16 pm IST | AP | Windows

MySpace is getting into the book business. The online social network, an increasingly popular venue for authors, booksellers and publishers, is collaborating with a children's imprint of HarperCollins on an environmental handbook coming out April 22, Earth Day.

"How great it is to launch a partnership with a company with as large an influence as MySpace on such an important topic," Jane Friedman, President and CEO of HarperCollins, said Wednesday in a statement.

"MySpace has entire online communities, such as the Impact Channel and OurPlanet, dedicated solely to environmental and social causes," Tom Anderson, co-founder and president of MySpace, said in a statement. "The first MySpace book is just one more way we are working to engage the MySpace community in environmental issues and encourage people to take action."

The paperback original, to be called "MySpace/Our Planet: Change is Possible," will be written by freelance journalist Jeca Taudte and include a foreword by Anderson. According to Brenda Bowen, vice president and publisher of the Bowen Press, a HarperCollins imprint, "MySpace/Our Planet" will be about 160 pages and cost about $12.95. A first printing of 200,000 is planned.

The book will feature ideas from MySpace users, who through Nov. 7 can post environmental tips on http://www.myspace.com/ourplanet. Bowen says about 40 such suggestions, their length ranging from a sentence to a paragraph, will be woven throughout the text. MySpace contributors who end up in the book will not be paid, but will be credited by their usernames and geographic locations.

"The main idea we want to get across is that teenagers are not only contributing to this book, but are being provided a blueprint on how to help the environment," Bowen told The Associated Press.

MySpace already has projects with other media, including a collaboration with MTV on dialogues between voters and presidential candidates. Bowen and MySpace's senior vice president for public affairs, Jeff Berman, agree that other book projects are likely.

"We're always talking to potential partners about big ideas and this one with HarperCollins made a lot of sense," Berman says. "We want to be at the forefront of user-generated media, and books are an important part of that."

Tags: MySpace

RELATED STORIES

The Hammer Goes Down on MySpace, Sells for $35 Million

The Hammer Goes Down on MySpace, Sells for $35 Million

This is one news, everyone knew was coming. News Corporation has finally cut the umbilical cord with its non-performing web site, MySpace.

Activision Blizzard's Bobby Kotick to Invest in Myspace

MySpace Goes On Sale

MySpace Lays off Nearly Half of Staff

'FarmVille' Maker Hires Ex-MySpace CEO Van Natta

MySpace Readies Site Overhaul to Rekindle Growth

MySpace to Buy Web Music Service iLike

 

Leaked Images, Availability, Pricing,
Specs, Pre-order

features

5 free operating systems that aren't Linux

5 free operating systems that aren't Linux

The war of operating systems started decades ago, and the first mainstream

By Rossi Fernandes

It's a great time to be a family

It's a great time to be a family

Microsoft has unveiled its first ever global, multi-product advertising...

By Advertorial

A look at MeeGo on a netbook

A look at MeeGo on a netbook

In a sea of operating systems with Windows 7, the upcoming Windows 8 and...

By Rossi Fernandes

MORE FEATURES

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review

Rahul Mukherjee

Wed Feb 15, 22:19:14

Top smartphones under Rs.10,000

Pintu Patel

Wed Feb 15, 20:14:09

Presenting TukTuk, A GPS Based Auto Fare Calculator

Sripad Vaidya

Wed Feb 15, 19:50:41

MORE DISCUSSIONS

Close