Print on-demand publisher iUniverse has added an e-book option to its author services. iUniverse's Lynn Zingraf said, "We've had authors asking for it and a few hundred signed up right out of the gate."
Authors who wish to have their books available electronically, in either Microsoft Reader or Adobe formats, pay an extra $99 over the usual fees. The move is calculated to build an author base that has remained static, even if it means adding to costs. According to Barnes & Noble's quarterly filing with the SEC, the chain's share of iUniverse's loss for the third quarter ended November 3, 2001, was $2.4 million. B&N held a 29% stake in iUniverse for much of the third period, making iUniverse's third-quarter loss about $7.5 million. With a new $18-million investment by Warburg Pincus in iUniverse in October (News, Oct. 22), B&N's stake in the company is now 22%.
