Scholastic is teaming with Microsoft to give away e-books to promote a forthcoming print title by K.A. Applegate, the bestselling author of Scholastic's Animorphs series. The new Applegate title is Remnants #1: The Mayflower Project, and Scholastic is releasing the book as a five-part e-book serial, one element of a teaser marketing campaign that began on May 9.
Remnants is a science fiction tale set in the year 2011, just as the planet is about to be destroyed. Michael Jacobs, senior v-p of Scholastic trade, called Applegate "the Stephen King for middle grade readers," and said the e-book promotion will "help us expand our grassroots campaign geared to science fiction readers and make available to kids the kind of e-book experience they've been waiting for."
The book will be offered for free download until June 25. The print edition will be in bookstores June 15. The e-book edition will be available exclusively in the Microsoft Reader format. Scholastic will also launch a K.A. Applegate Web site as part of a national advertising campaign for the print edition. The children's publisher is also planning a Remnants e-book sweepstakes that will give young readers a chance to win one of 10 Pocket PC handheld computing devices, courtesy of Microsoft. The scholastic Web site is located at www.scholastic.com.
