The New York Daily News and Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday on some news bits dropped by Random House Worldwide CEO Peter Olson in his year-end letter to employees.  Getting the most attention was his statement that future plans '...may include direct sales online of our books to readers as a complement to our existing sales channels.'  Random House imprint Del Rey publishes numerous books carried by pop culture retailers, including science fiction novels, Star Wars books, and the Del Rey manga line. 

This would be the first direct-to-consumer Web sales by a major book publisher, although Random House parent Bertelsman owns book clubs which retail directly to consumers.  Of course, publishers that aren't owned by gigantic corporations, particularly in the manga space, have been selling direct to consumers for years.  Both Viz and Tokyopop, for example, have operated mail order/Internet sales operations throughout their history.