As a promotional tool, Sony is also choosing 25 “VIP” members. They’ll each receive “a Sony Reader device and cover with light” and the first four ebook selections. Sony will also fly them to Los Angeles in February for “an in-person book club and meet-and-greet” with Michael Connelly, whose The Black Box (published by Hachette’s Little, Brown) is February 2013′s selection. The VIPs must have a strong social media presence and be available for book club chats.

In addition to The Black Box, the selections for the book club are Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Hachette/Little, Brown) Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior (HarperCollins) and Molly Ringwald’s When It Happens to You (HarperCollins).

Sony has fallen far behind other e-reader companies in the U.S. and hasn’t been able to keep up. It released a new e-reader, the $129 PRS-T2, in July — but nobody is likely to buy it when Amazon and Barnes & Noble both introduced front-lit touchscreen models that cost less. The virtual book club might draw in a few readers, but it is unclear why it would convince them to switch to a Sony device, unless they happen to be chosen to receive one for free.

Other retailers have also tested virtual book clubs, with various levels of organization and features. Barnes & Noble has a section for them on its website. Last year, Kobo tested what it called a “book club” giving away one free ebook a month to new device owners, but it was more of a special offer than a discussion feature.

The e-book contains excerpts from over 30 fall titles across publishers and genres — including “This Is How You Lose Her” by Junot Diaz, “Live by Night” by Dennis Lehane, “Waging Heavy Peace” by Neil Young and “Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver.

The e-book is “our answer to the BEA discovery problem,” Publishers Lunch says, so “attendees can arrive at the convention having already sampled dozens of the most promoted books.” It’s also “a contribution to improving general consumer discovery” of new titles.

Publishers Lunch is releasing two editions of the e-book: one for the trade and one for consumers. The trade edition includes “detailed publisher rights, publicity and promotion information and contacts for each title, and lets you know what kind of BEA promotion and giveaways (if any) are planned for each book. Plus, nearly all of the excerpts click through to NetGalley, where registered users can either download the full digital galley or request it from the publisher.” You can download it here, in Kindle format or EPUB.

The consumer edition “omits the trade and BEA-related info that isn’t relevant to general readers but keeps all the excerpts, and adds click-throughs to pre-order from the three major stores with that capability.” Click here for download links from all e-book retailers.