The Electronic Book Arrives
According to SoftBook Press, the e-book also has the potential of winning over the textbook market, which, according to Fortune, comprises one-fourth of all books sold, making it worth $5.7 billion a year "Electronic Books Are Coming at Last!" by Carol Vinzant, Fortune, July 6, 1998). Students won't have to carry pounds of heavy books on their backs; reference material will also be made more accessible to lawyers, doctors, analysts, government workers and other professionals.
"The market that we're going after is distinct. It's for people who must read lots of essential information regularly," remarked Jim Sachs, SoftBook Press CEO and the Macintosh mouse co-inventor, during his July 14, 1998, NPR appearance. With its InfoCenter, which can be company-specific, SoftBook is also aiming at accommodating the corporate world--manuals, specifications, handbooks, training materials and other internal documentation can be distributed on SoftBook to employees without making them available to outside audiences.
For the publisher, e-books' distribution system provides no printing and shipping costs, no need to manage inventories and no book returns, also making an "out-of-print" concept obsolete.
"I absolutely believe that electronic books are destined to become ubiquitous and they will come in all sorts of sizes and shapes and colors," predicted Sachs during his NPR appearance. "And with an electronic book, I think within easily the next five to 10 years, the selection of reading materials available will be greater in electronic form than in the printed form."
For more information about Rocket eBook, contact NuvoMedia at (650) 327-5110 or visit www.nuvo media.com. For information about SoftBook, call SoftBook Press at (650) 463-1800 or Eastwick Communications (for SoftBook Press) at (650) 261-6046 or visit www.softbook.com.
