Simon & Schuster has taken a step toward expanding its e-book distribution by signing on with OverDrive, the Cleveland-based e-publishing vendor, to convert and distribute its front- and backlist titles in four e-book formats.

The agreement will eventually make thousands of S&S titles available in e-book form through OverDrive's Content Reserve, an online B2B marketplace for publishers offering a registry of more than 300 online booksellers. Steve Potash, president of OverDrive, told PW that the new agreement will "dramatically increase S&S's distribution. Content Reserve offers S&S global distribution for their inventory."

Keith Titan, senior director of e-publishing and e-commerce at S&S, said the publisher decided to work with OverDrive because "they've got the technical competence and their list of retailers is growing." The deal was just finalized, he said, and S&S titles should be moving through OverDrive to retailers by the summer. Titan also noted that the new deal points to steady growth of e-book sales and a slowly but surely maturing e-book marketplace. Titan pointed to "double-digit growth in sales" for 2000 and 2001, and added that sales increased at a double-digit rate in the first quarter of 2002 compared to last year's first period.

"People talk about slow e-book sales," said Titan, "but this kind of growth shows that people really are taking up e-books. It sends a positive message about the market." Like other e-book publishers, Titan said that continued growth will depend on improved devices and "high interest content." And he noted that while textbooks and educational content will likely be a profitable e-publishing sector, he emphasized that popular fiction and nonfiction are the bestselling categories for S&S e-books.

Currently, S&S offers about 1,200 e-book titles in four formats (MS Reader, Adobe, Gemstar and Palm). Titan said the bestsellers are by Stephen King and Jeffery Deaver, as well as its Star Trek novels. And, Titan said, e-book editions of Band of Brothers and David McCullough's John Adams are big sellers. "We also have strong sales of business e-books. This shows that there are serious e-book readers out there," said Titan.

OverDrive, Palm and More

The deal with S&S was among a flurry of deals announced just before and during BookExpo America by OverDrive, which is quickly developing into the most formidable e-wholesaler in the market.

OverDrive has signed a deal with Palm to become the first vendor to distribute titles in the Palm format. Until this agreement, Palm e-books could be purchased only though its e-bookstore, the former peanutpress.com. Now Palm will offer its 5,000 e-book titles through Content Reserve.

OverDrive also announced the launch of Digital Showcase, an online publicity service offering password- and DRM-protected digital galleys (in Palm, MS Reader and Adobe formats) and preview Web pages. In addition, OverDrive launched its digital kiosks, a complete retail system with catalogue, shopping cart, credit card processing, hosting and tech support, that allows any Web site to start selling e-books and downloadable audio.

Mike Segroves, director of business development at Palm Digital Media, said it was time for Palm to expand its distribution. "The markets big enough," said Segroves. "There's room for more than one place to sell Palm titles. Our sales are going crazy."

Palm Digital Media announced another first—it has joined with the Free Press to sponsor its first e-book tour, with self-help author Cheryl Richardson. Richardson's new book, Stand Up for Your Life, was published in March with a 200,000-copy first printing. Richardson, who also has a new show on the Oxygen cable-TV network, uses a Palm device and approached the company about an e-book tour. The first stop in the six-city tour began in Wooster, Mass., earlier this month. On the tour, Richardson is raffling off Palm devices and "signing" e-books by pressing a code on a device that unlocks a new page where Richardson uses a stylus to autograph the work. Palm is also sponsoring a PBS fund-raising program featuring Richardson.

"I'm a technology buff," said Richardson, who said that despite initially being reluctant to try an e-book, she eventually read one on her Palm and was hooked. "I use a Palm to manage my whole company. Once I realized I could pack up a load of books on a single device and travel with everything I want to read, I was sold."

Toolkits Available

Palm Digital Media also announced last week that it has made its e-book toolkit, eBook Studio, available for licensing. The program comes in a variety of flavors—there's one for home use and one for commercial distribution. Both of these programs enable the development of unencrypted e-books. There's also a program that allows retailers to distribute encrypted titles.

In a statement, Segroves said, "The e-book industry has reached the point where it can support multiple channels of distribution for Palm Reader." In addition to seeing the program as an added form of revenue, the company hopes to increase the penetration of the Palm format and thus build a stronger market for its own titles.