Electronic publisher RosettaBooks has announced it will publish an e-book with a time-limit license. During a month-long "$1 for 10 hours of reading" campaign, visitors to www.RosettaBooks.com can download Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None for $1; after 10 (cumulative) hours of access time, the file becomes unreadable.
Digital distribution services provider Reciprocal Inc. will process the financial transaction. The reader can view the title using Adobe Systems's Acrobat eBook Reader for 10 hours (described by Rosetta as "more than ample time to read the 275-page mystery"). When the permit expires, the reader has the option of renewing the 10-hour permit for another dollar or purchasing a "permanent" electronic edition for $4.99.
According to Susan Altman Prescott, v-p of marketing, cross-media publishing at Adobe, "Timed e-books offered in Adobe PDF open a number of innovative ways for publishers to market and sell books. For example, they offer a cost-effective way to distribute review copies and bound galleys with the layout, fonts and graphics intact."
