Cayla Kluver

Amazon.com Inc. has taken on a new role: publisher. Through its new AmazonEncore program (http://www.Amazon.com/encore), which the online retailer launched this week, Amazon will use "information such as customer reviews on Amazon Web sites to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors that show potential for greater sales." Amazon will then partner with those authors to reintroduce their books through marketing support and distribution into multiple channels and formats, such as the Amazon Books Store, Amazon Kindle Store, Audible.com, and national and independent bookstores via third-party wholesalers.