Anyone who has been around publishing long enough to remember the events of 2000 may feel a bit nostalgic reading the stories about Stephen King’s decision to publish his next book, Joyland, in print only. He’s jolted the industry before.

Thirteen years ago — pre-iPad, Nook, and Kindle — he rocked the book world by releasing Riding the Bullet as the first mass ebook, attracting so many downloads that servers crashed. He followed that success with The Plant, selling it directly from his website in installments. Readers paid by the honor system (and many chose to download it for free).

In 2000 King was quoted in the New York Times:

“I’ve continued to say yes to these things rather than kind of pulling back and saying, Well, I’m going to write a book a year, and that’s what I’m going to do,” he says. “I dislike writers who behave like old cart horses, dozing their way back to the stable.”

Now, in this age of accelerating ebook sales, King’s focus on print looks almost radical. But it wasn’t long ago that publishers held back digital versions to avoid cannibalizing sales of more expensive hardcovers. In this case, that’s not the motivation; Joyland is a $12.95 paperback. King told the Wall Street Journal he wanted to send consumers back to bricks-and-mortar bookstores.

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