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In the summer of 2000, Stephen King, a well-known American author of ''horror'' novels, created a nightmare for the publishing industry: he launched an Internet-downloadable novel, perhaps the first by a celebrity author, without the involvement of his traditional print-publisher, Simon & Schuster. In his own words, King asserted that this was an effort to ''become big-publishing''s worst nightmare''. This case examines the value-chain of the traditional book publishing industry, and considers how and where King''s effort poses a challenge for existing organisational actors in this industry. The case also looks at other digital initiatives that represent possible re-thinking of the way that the traditional book publishing industry works, and invites the reader to consider both changes to the competitive terrain as well as the potential for appropriate strategic responses. **Decision Sciences Institute, 2001 Best Case Study**