The book publishers like to do things in an orderly fashion. First they produce the hardback edition. Months down the line the paperback hits the shelf. Finally someone might get round to producing an audio copy and if the publisher is really keen to ride the technological wave, a digital version will be made available. And while this is going on, books are being shuffled backwards and forwards between publisher and retailer as the forces of supply and demand remain forever out of kilter.

If the Caravan Project takes off the industry could find itself propelled into the heady world of just-in-time inventory. The brainchild of Peter Osnos, founder of non-fiction imprint PublicAffairs, the project advocates the delivery of books in five formats at the initial release. He believes books should be made available in hardback, digital, audio, print-on-demand and by chapter. The message is simple, offer the customer a menu of choices and he will stay loyal.

The technology is already in place. Print on demand presses are capable of printing and glue-binding a book in under ten minutes. If these machines were made available in bookstores a customer would never have to leave the store without the book they were looking for. It would also mean the costly and time-consuming practice of sending excess inventory back to the publishers. In America it is estimated that 33 per cent of adult hardcover books were returned in this way.

Six nonprofit publishers the retailer Borders Group a few independent bookstores and the and publishing wholesaler Ingram Industries are participating in Caravan. The rest of the industry will watch with interest. Many fear that making digital copies readily available will create a Napster situation with one legal copy being copied time and time again and distributed illegally via the Internet.

Many authors prefer the staged release of their work. Each time a new version hits the shelves, interest is rekindled. They also stand to make the most royalties on the hardback edition so it makes sense to release this first.

The Caravan Project believes that offering more choice will see a 15 per cent increase in net sales. Book publishing in America is healthy. $25 billion was spent on books last year, up 10 per cent on the previous year. But it could be better is only people would join the caravan.