Margaret Atwood's LongPen has a new retail partner in the U.S. A Borders outlet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has installed one of the LongPen machines for a four-month pilot project.

The Borders LongPen was officially launched on Sunday, following months of discussions, says Mary Davis, the chain's corporate affairs manager. Davis says Borders holds thousands of community events in its stores each year and will use the LongPen primarily for author and CD signings. "We are building a calendar now of future events and we expect to keep the machine very busy," she wrote in an e-mail to Q&Q Omni.

LongPen marketing vice-president Bruce Walsh attended the launch, which he says was "fantastic." About 70 people came to watch Atwood speak from Toronto, broadcast over the Internet, and to have their books signed. "This was the first signing in the U.S. and when the first book was signed there was a huge round of applause," says Walsh. "There's real excitement at store level."

Borders is also placing a broadcast unit in one of its New York City stores, with plans to connect Ann Arbor customers to author signings in the New York store. As LongPen marketing manager Grace O'Connell notes, the LongPen is designed to complement traditional book tours that often exclude high-population suburbs.

Throughout the pilot project, LongPen provides the equipment at no cost and will help Borders with event planning and publicity. Should Borders elect to keep the machine, either through a lease or purchase, LongPen will provide only technical support, says Walsh.

Borders is touting the Ann Arbor location as a prototype of its new concept stores, the first of 14 to open across the U.S. this year. The store is 28,900 square feet and features interactive technology, self-publishing kiosks, and large windows, skylights, and comfortable seating areas.

Davis says Borders will evaluate the success of the LongPen program before deciding whether to use it in additional markets.

Though he wouldn't release details, Walsh says LongPen will be brought in to other major bookstores in the U.S. shortly. "Things are really moving very quickly," he says. "Lots of big players have contacted us directly." O'Connell says LongPen is overseeing similar pilots with HMV in Canada and Waterstones in the U.K. She says a LongPen machine will be installed at the flagship HMV store on Yonge Street in Toronto, but couldn't say when it will launch.