"This makes it possible to sell virtual books at 25 to 50 percent below softcover prices ..." says Snow. "I don't think we pay anybody less than 40 percent royalties. That's almost three times the largest amount that even a big-name author can get from a traditional publisher."
In addition to offering a product "in unlimited quantities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to an estimated 50 to 70 million people who use the Internet," says Snow, publishers may consider that virtual books possess features conventional books do not: they are searchable, and they can also offer links to online resources, sound, animation, interactive graphs and charts. Other advantages, he says, include the ability to copy text and paste it into other documents without retyping, and type enlargement for readers with vision problems.
- Companies:
- Hewlett-Packard Co.
- Microsoft Corp.