ECG 1 March 2007

From Mille lire to Mille et Une Nuits : inventing ‘disposable’ books
A case study prepared by Benôit Heilbrunn Assistant Professor of Marketing, E.M. Lyon

1. ‘A book for the price of an espresso’ is Marcello Baraghini’s idea. In the 1970s, he created a small publishing company called Stampa Alternativa, close to the left wing antiestablishment movements. In 1990, he came up with the idea of launching a series of books with very low production costs which would allow them to be sold at a very low price. The idea of Mille lire books was born: paperbacks with no more than 100 pages of text, printed on recycled paper, with no pictures. Fifty thousand copies of each title were printed. The authors published included Freud, Shakespeare, Garcia Lorca, Stendahl and Poe. The books were sold for the price of an espresso: 1,000 lire (51 cents), at the time cheaper than a packet of cigarettes. 2. What an amazing phenomenon and a very innovative move in a country where the average selling price of a book ranges from 5€ for a paperback to 17€ for a hardback. The success of the Mille lire books was inevitable. For example the Lettera sulla felicita translated from Epicurus sold 5,000 copies and was among the Italian best sellers of the year. In 1992 over 2 million Mille lire books were sold in Italy. This new concept of books was successful because it created a new category of readers by overcoming the psychological hindrance of high prices. People would thus buy a Mille lire as they buy an espresso or a pack of cigarettes depending on their consumption situation. The publisher was required to adapt his choice of retail outlets according to these situation factors. It was therefore decided to sell the Mille lire in the traditional newsagents on every main street. People waiting for a date, an appointment or a train would be tempted to buy on impulse such books just as they would buy any ‘disposable product such as newspapers, cigarettes or chewing gum.'