News

E-publishing Shorts
Staff -- 10/23/00

Yuen to Keynote ePubExpo | Random U.K. Develops E-book Program
Univ. of Va. E-library Draws Readers | Zooba Uses E-mails to Promote Books

Gemstar Ceo
Henry Yuen.
Speaker Change
Yuen to Keynote ePubExpoFresh off his well-attended October 12 press conference at which he updated the industry on the latest Gemstar e-book doings (News, Oct. 16), Gemstar-TV Guide International chairman Henry Yuen has agreed to deliver the keynote address at ePubExpo. Yuen is scheduled to speak at 8:30 a.m. on October 31 on the theme "Toward a Consumer-Driven ePublishing Model." He replaces John Kilcullen, CEO of IDG Books, who originally had been slated to provide the keynote remarks. EPubExpo will run October 31 and November 1 at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.

International
Random U.K. Develops E-book ProgramThe Random House Group, the U.K. subsidiary of Random House Inc., plans to release its first e-books before the end of the year, making it the first major U.K. publisher to initiate an ongoing e-book program. Simon Master, group deputy chairman of the general books division, told PW he considers the launch of the e-book program significant "because we feel it is important to plant the British flag on this issue and recognize that e-books can be developed with respect for territorial rights."

More than 100 titles drawn from the Random House and Transworld lists have been chosen to launch the line. The first e-books will come mainly from the company's backlist, although Master said that as the program evolves, he foresees frontlist titles playing a more dominant role. Simultaneous publication of e-books with print editions is another likelihood in the future, Master added. The Random list will have a British emphasis, but Master said that where the company has the rights to U.S. authors, they will be included.

The launch of the e-book program has been spearheaded thus far by Master with the cooperation from staff from various divisions. Master said in the future, Random may establish a unit that would handle e-books, audio publishing and print-on-demand.

Master said Random's e-book program would expand in relation to how fast distribution channels become established. Beyond personal computers, there is little in the way of e-book retailing in the U.K., although online retailers such as Amazon and Bol.com are developing e-book capabilities.
--Jim Milliot


E-Books
Univ. of Va. E-library Draws Readers Think that it may be a few years before this e-book download thing takes off? Think again.

The University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center (Etext) center has 50,000 texts digitized in HTML and XML for downloading via the Internet; 5,000 are accessible to the general public--all for free. Of the public titles, more than 1,200 are available in Microsoft Reader format. Since the Reader software became widely available in August, the center's director, David Seaman, reports, there were 347,000 downloads in August, and 323,000 in September.

Just the place when you're looking for a relatively obscure Early American writer like Fenimore Cooper--that's Susan Fenimore Cooper, of whom the Etext Center has the premier collection; the center also has many titles by her more-famous dad.

What's the most-sought e-book? "Aesop's Fables has been downloaded more than 4,000 times," Seaman said.

Though the university's 18,000 students use the center frequently, Seaman told PW, "The largest number of users are high school students and teachers, all around the world, followed by the general public."

Readers from more than 100 countries have downloaded e-books from the Etext Center. "The use of our books is truly global," Seaman told PW. "Users live in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, even the Russian Federation.

As one might expect, UVA has one of the most extensive collections of Thomas Jefferson's writings, and also has one of the best collections of Mark Twain, and covers most early American writers, as well as Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, the American Civil War, African-American history, and American Indian language and culture studies. The center is also proud of its collections in medieval French and English p try and illuminated manuscripts and rare books, including 21 versions of the Bible.

For more information, visit the Etext center's Web site: etext.lib.virginia.edu.
--Paul Hilts


Marketing
Zooba Uses E-mails to Promote BooksZooba.com, a year-old direct marketer/publisher, has signed three new publishers as sponsors for its e-mail service, bringing the number of publishing company partners to 21. The latest companies to sign with Zooba are Cambridge University Press, Perseus Books Group and Dorling Kindersley.

Founded in October 1999 by Marc Bataillon and Jeffrey Glass, Zooba (it's a made-up name) is a free, opt-in service that allows subscribers to receive weekly "cultural coffeebreak" e-mails on a particular subject. The e-mails contain 250- to 300-word essays on a topic, along with three relevant product recommendations. Zooba offers 44 topic areas, such as Great Minds, Military History, and Thinkers & Thoughts. A consumer who subscribes to the Great Minds selection will receive an e-mail on a different person, such as Albert Einstein, each week. Accompanying each essay are descriptions of products related to the topic, and links to purchase them.

According to Glass, books are a "huge part" of the products offered by the service. Through mid-October, Zooba had more than 600,000 subscribers and, Glass said, "We're well on our way to one million." Zooba has done some marketing to recruit subscribers, but has relied heavily on press reports, word-of-mouth and viral marketing. The company sends out about eight million e-mails each month.

Publishers and other sponsors pay a fee to Zooba for product placement, and Zooba takes a commission from items sold through the site. The company hires about 500 freelancers to write the essays and has approximately 40 employees at its Boston headquarters.
--Jim Milliot