Richard Curtis

Open Road Integrated Media, the largest independent ebook publisher, announced today that it has acquired E-Reads, the oldest independent ebook publisher in the field.

Amazon Publishing is likely to acquire the assets of Dorchester Publishing, the 41-year-old mass market publisher that closed its doors this February after years of economic trouble. Literary agent Richard Curtis, writing at Digital Book World, points to the announcement of an auction for Dorchester’s assets. At the auction, Amazon Publishing will act as the stalking-horse bidder and will purchase Dorchester’s assets unless another bidder comes forward with a better offer. Amazon Publishing would buy Dorchester’s entire backlist and customer list and would pay Dorchester authors any outstanding royalties they are owed. Dorchester published genre fiction, mainly romance, Westerns

Amazon.com has taught readers that they do not need bookstores. Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers. Amazon will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres, in both physical and e-book form. It is a striking acceleration of the retailer’s fledging publishing program that will place Amazon squarely in competition with the New York houses that are also its most prominent suppliers.

ONLINE BOOKSELLERS Since it was impossible to include everyone, we offer this listing below as a mere snapshot of the emerging business models in this exploding field. Browse this list to get an idea of how today's book publishers sell their wares--both printed and electronic--online. By spending just a few minutes on the Internet yourself, you will probably find even more companies . . . WHO: www.agoodbook.com, "Your basic $4.95 download" WHAT THEY SELL: e-books downloadable for $4.95; the site has an association with www.amazon.com WHAT FORMAT: PDF, HTML. WHO: www.amazon.com, "Earth's biggest selection" WHAT THEY SELL: printed books, CDs, gifts, DVD and video,

by Rose Blessing "E-books are more than hype right now. E-books are definitely here," asserted Victor McCrary, group leader, Information Storage and Integrated Systems Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). McCrary was speaking at the Electronic Book 1999 conference held in Gaithersburg, MD, in September, the second such conference sponsored by NIST; he chaired the event. McCrary and many other speakers--including the reading-device makers--agreed that improved displays, lowered device weights and decreased power requirements are desired. "A lot of work still needs to be done in terms of (creating) a thriving electronic book industry," added McCrary. He credited SoftBook Press and NuvoMedia