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- Column - All About E-books - |
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March 16 / 2000 Who Are Stephen King's E-Publishers? By Ebook Editor Lisa Eagleson-Roever A news item in the electronic newsletter PW Daily mentioned that Stephen King's latest novel, Riding the Bullet, was going to be released exclusively on March 14, 2000 in electronic format. The publishers/distributors handling the title were listed by name and that prompted me to wonder "Who ARE these people and what exactly do they DO?" There are other e-publishers out there, of course, but I decided to investigate the six listed since it was a conveniently small number and many people have been waiting for the arrival of a popular author on the e-publishing scene. I will cover them in alphabetical order, for simplicity's sake. All product and company names mentioned below should be assumed to be trade-mark protected. Glassbook Inc info@glassbook.com Glassbook is a software company which creates e-book reading, publishing, and distribution software. Its products include the free Glassbook Reader; the Glassbook Plus Reader - not free; the Glassbook Content Server, aimed at book publishers, distributors, and sellers; the Glassbook Library Server, which allows academic, public, and corporate libraries to provide e-books to patrons; and, naturally, the Glassbook Kiosk, an on-line venue for purchasing e-books. netLibrary Inc info@netLibrary.com NetLibrary -the "net" is lowercase in the official name - is exactly what the company name advertises - an electronic library. Patrons (you must have an account, as with a traditional library) check books "out" to their account and read them on-line. They will be checked "in" again automatically when the lending period expires. Only one copy at a time can be read, as with a bricks-and-mortar library. Access to multiple copies can be purchased. As with a traditional library, you may copy one or two pages, but not the whole book. Attempting to copy an entire book will prompt a warning screen. Ignoring this screen with disable your account immediately. At present, netLibrary appears to cater to companies, universities, and research organizations. Titles mostly fall under the categories of scholarly, professional, and reference. NuvoMedia info@nuvomedia.com NuvoMedia has developted a Web-based electronic book delivery system, which allows customers to view books on a portable reader device called Rocket e-book. These e-books are purchased through traditional booksellers' Web sites as an electronic version of the paper title. The Rocket e-book is about the size of a paperback book and weighs just over a pound. You can store titles on your personal computer and download them onto the reader device as needed. Peanut Press Inc info@peanutpress.com Peanut Press, like NuvoMedia, has developted a Web-based electronic book delivery system. Unlike NuvoMedia, titles from Peanut Press are designed to be viewed on already existing hardware, such as PDAs - personal digital assistants. No additional hardware is needed. The title is read with customized software called Peanut Reader. Versions of the personal digital assistants which Peanut Reader can accomodate (and there are many) are listed on the peanutpress.com Web site. You can store titles on your personal computer and download them onto your reader device as needed. NetLibrary, parent company to Peanut Press, delivers books for the PC desktop. Combined efforts will eventually bring e-books to users of all popular reading platforms. While integrating efforts continue, peanutpress.com delivers books only to Palm OS and Windows CE handheld computers (PDAs). SoftBook Press info@softbook.com Like NuvoMedia, SoftBook Press has developed an electronic book delivery system which allows customers to view books on their own proprietary reader device, in this case called the SoftBook. This reader devices is about the size of a hardcover book and weighs about 3 pounds. Unlike NuvoMedia and Peanut Press, titles are not dowloaded to your personal computer, but straight onto the SoftBook. Each customer maintains a library with SoftBook Press and can download and re-download titles already purchased as needed. SoftLock.com Inc info@softlock.com Softlock.com was also on the list of companies handling the Stephen King title, but unlike any of the companies above, it is not a publisher or distributor of titles. It is marketing company that specializes in putting a client's information on the Web where potential customers are most likely to see it - on relevant Web sites, search engines, etc. As one can see, Stephen King has planned for all contingencies. No matter what type of reader device you use, you will probably find a format to suit you. And in case you haven't heard about his book on television, radio, or e-mail, he even has a marketing firm to reach you while you surf. -- Sources - Information for this article was obtained from individual company Web sites and a series of 1999 reports produced by Digital Integrity Corporation for The Association of American Publishers. |
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