eBooks … By the Numbers

Original Short: Random House Children's Books 
Launches 99-cent E-book-only Short Story

Random House Children's Books (Randomhouse.com/kids) is, for the first time in its history, releasing an e-book original, "The Death of Joan of Arc: A Lost Story from the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" (Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers/$0.99), written by New York Times bestselling author Michael Scott.

The story is available exclusively in digital format and is the newest addition to Scott's series "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel," which has sold more than 1 million copies to date in North America.

"Readers who love a series are always eager for more information. Michael Scott's fans clamor for any new details they can get while they wait for the next novel," says Beverly Horowitz, vice president and publisher of Delacorte Press. "The original e-book is a wonderful way for an author to connect with his readers and keep them entertained until the release of the next book in the series. The e-book original is short, but satisfying."

Reidy Ready for E-book Growth

According to an article in The New York Times (Aug. 11), "Carolyn Reidy, 
the chief executive of Simon & Schuster, said in an interview that e-books currently made up about 8 percent of the company's book revenue. She predicted that it could be as high as 40 percent within three to five years."