Tim Waterstones is looking to launch a subscription style service to books.

The project, Read Petite, will specialise in short stories and serialisations, following in the tradition of 19th Century novelists like Dickens, creator of Oliver Twist, and Anthony Trollope, who used to publish their novels chapter by chapter in newspapers and magazines.

Short stories have traditionally been very difficult to sell in paper form, but Mr Waterstone said they would be suited to commuters and other time-pressed bibliophiles.

Read Petite will launch towards the end of the year, and is likely to charge between £5 and £12 a month.

I’m not so sure this will work. But let’s see. What’s your views on this?