E-Books and Interactive Publishing

According to recent studies, big things are on the horizon for e-readers in terms of growth and revenue. A recent mediaIDEAS report forecasted that 6 million e-paper display-based e-readers will be sold in 2010—nearly six times the number (1.1 million) sold in 2008. By 2020, the report predicts global annual e-reader sales will reach 446 million units with a value of more than $25 billion. Another study, by research company DisplaySearch, says that e-paper display revenues will reach $9.6 billion by 2018.

The Publishing Business Virtual Conference & Expo officially opened its "virtual" doors with more than 900 book publishing executives in attendance on Thurs., Oct. 29 for Digital Content Day @ Your Desk

Book Business’ resource guide is your year-round tool for quickly finding the companies, services and products that can help your enterprise succeed in today’s marketplace. The guide offers a comprehensive selection of companies that provide valuable services to the industry in everything from business management and interactive media to manufacturing, production, distribution, marketing and more.

Every medium possesses a unique set of characteristics. While this statement sounds self-evident at face value, the failure to understand and exploit the attributes of each medium often results in strategic missteps for publishers. The result: product failure from putting the wrong product in the wrong medium, or missed opportunities for product value creation.

Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble have announced a distribution agreement involving the 2010 debut of Plastic Logic's e-book reading device, the QUE proReader. The device is touted by Plastic Logic as "the first e-reader designed to support the lifestyle of modern business professionals." It also is unique for its shatterproof, plastic display with the largest touchscreen available.

Former HarperCollins President and CEO Jane Friedman has launched Open Road Integrated Media (ORIM) in partnership with film producer Jeffrey Sharp. Financed by Kohlberg Ventures, Open Road is a content marketing company that "places the e-book in the center of a multiplatform universe which includes film, video and other forms of digital entertainment." Friedman will serve as CEO, and Sharp as president.

Amazon announced it has lowered the price of its Kindle from $299 to $259

Los Gatos, Calif.-based Smashwords, a publisher and distributor of multiformat e-books, has entered into an e-book distribution agreement with Sony Electronics. Smashwords offers a free e-book publishing platform to authors and publishers that gives them control over pricing, sampling and distribution of their works.

Alameda, Calif.-based Vook LLC announced the launch of its first "vooks," all published in partnership with Simon & Schuster imprint Atria. According to the company, a vook is a blend of a book and videos to create "one complete, instructive and entertaining story."

In this issue, we’ve packed content galore on many of the most significant changes facing the industry. In addition to the features on the evolving retail landscape and ways to cut time and cost from production and manufacturing, there are three important articles on e-books.