WHSmith.co.uk, one of the U.K.'s top online bookstores, is adding an e-bookstore to its Web store slated to launch in October. The site will be among the first associated with a major U.K. retailer to offer e-books.
WHSmith will rely on OverDrive, the Cleveland, Ohio, e-publishing technology services provider, to offer secure hosting, copyright protection and inventory management. OverDrive's Content Reserve wholesale distribution service will allow WH Smith to offer thousands of e-books from the launch. The e-books, available primarily in Microsoft Reader format, are from some 250 publishers, including Random House, HarperCollins, Time Warner, Taylor & Francis and Cambridge University Press.
OverDrive CEO Steve Potash told PW that the company is a "global b2b" with "one third of our e-books from non-U.S. sources." He added that the company avoids any potential copyright infringements of an American distribution company delivering e-books abroad by insuring that publishers declare the exact rights they hold for each e-book.
