Digital-first experiment for Fourth Estate's Tan

Fourth Estate is experimenting with selling a digital extract from Amy Tan’s forthcoming book as a way of building interest in the title.

The Valley of Amazement will be released in November, but the HarperCollins imprint released a 42-page extract titled Rules for Virgins yesterday (4th July), available for 49p on the Kindle.

Clare Reihill, editorial director at Fourth Estate, said the move had been prompted by a similar offer in the US, where Rules for Virgins was made available by publisher Byliner as a Kindle Single in December 2011.

Reihill said: “Since it has been available in the US, we thought 
it would make sense to follow suit before the novel comes out. It’s 
a part of the book where it makes sense that it can be pulled out to become an extract, but when you read the full novel and see it in context, it takes on a new meaning.”

“Tan has a lot of fans who have been waiting for her next book, so there is a natural audience for it. Depending on how it does, we might consider doing it for other authors,” she added.

Rules for Virgins is set in Shanghai in 1912, and revolves around a house of courtesans.