Microsoft launches imprint that aims to be faster than traditional book publishing

Microsoft has launched a new book imprint with the aim of printing faster than traditional publishers.

Named after an Intel microprocessor, 8080 Books will publish titles focused on technology, science and business.

The imprint aims to “accelerate the publishing process, shortening the lag between the final manuscript and the book’s arrival in the marketplace,” reads a company statement.

“Technology has quickened the pace of almost every industry except publishing,” it adds. “We know that more important ideas and arguments can travel faster than they do at the moment. Can they travel too fast? Of course, that already happens in abundance, but we seek to strike the right balance.”

The first title from 8080, No Prize for Pessimism, by Microsoft’s deputy chief technology officer Sam Schillace, is available now. The book explores the need for optimism when creating technology products.

Its second title, Platform Mindset, is written by Marcus Fontoura, previously technical fellow and corporate vice-president at Microsoft, and will be available later this year.

The imprint anticipates that many of its writers and readers will be “current, former, and future Microsofties” as well as customers, researchers and policymakers.

However, along with Microsoft writers, it hopes to “showcase minds and ideas from outside the company” and is “especially interested in new and nontraditional writers and thinkers”. It is not currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts.

8080 also plans to reissue “significant works” and out of print books that remain relevant.

The imprint said its initial topics of focus will be “technology and the future; business process and productivity, and societal priorities in law, ethics, and policy.”

It said it will experiment with technology to “accelerate and democratise” book publishing, and is building a “rigorous” editorial process which will involve spotting “meritorious” ideas and arguments quickly, assisting with manuscript development, inviting internal and external reviews and meeting “style and substance standards”.

The imprint will “cover the costs of utilising publishing professionals” and donate the remaining revenue to nonprofits through Microsoft Philanthropies.

This week, it was revealed that Microsoft had struck a deal with HarperCollins to use some nonfiction books it publishes to train an AI model, with the permission of authors.