The Chicago Tribune has announced that it will be offering subscribers a new Sunday books section as a piece of premium paid content.

Printers Row, as the section will be called, will cost Tribune subscribers an additional $99 a year. Those who sign up will get a 24-page book supplement every Sunday, featuring reviews, interviews with authors and news from Chicago's literary scene as well as a free book of short stories each week.

The Chicago Tribune describes the launch in its own business section as "a means to bolster revenue beyond the traditional subscription and advertising model" by offering readers with niche interests a high-quality targeted product that they will be willing to pay for. Gerould Kern, senior vice president and editor of the Chicago Tribune states that "audiences want very specialized information, and we are going to give them that".

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The combination of a weak economy and the digital age makes selling newspapers increasingly difficult; however, innovative solutions can leverage the situation. Magazines and newspapers are using social discounting websites such as Groupon and Crowdity to rein in new subscriptions.

The principles of the discount sites are simple. Newspapers offer their subscriptions at a largely discounted price, but the deal only goes through if a minimum number of people subscribe. Last month when the Chicago Tribune used Groupon, they offered their one-year subscription for US$13, a 75% discount from the full price of $51. They required that 200 people subscribe to offer the deal. The final number of subscriptions was 7,494. Groupon, however, does take a 50% cut of the profit from the subscriptions.