Book World News - Wall Street Journal

[scouries]

Three Publishers Aim to Sell E-Books Directly to Readers

By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

Three leading book publishers are developing a website to sell physical and digital titles directly to consumers in a bid to widen the distribution of books as the number of bookstores in the U.S. continues to decline.

CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster Inc., Pearson PLC's Penguin Group (USA) and Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group are investing in the new site, called Bookish, scheduled to launch this summer. The site will allow consumers to recommend books to friends and access a wide array of information about authors and titles, said Paulo Lemgruber, the new venture's chief executive.

Mr. Lemgruber, who most recently worked as a senior vice president of digital media at FEARnet, a cable channel for suspense movies, said users will be able to log in directly or via Facebook and will be able to recommend books to friends.

Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster, said the site aims to create "a one-stop shop for consumers because today they feel they have to go all over the place to find what they want to know." She said that other publishers are expected to join.

Consumers will be able to buy books directly through Bookish and will be able to download titles to some mobile devices, though the venture hasn't yet determined which ones will be compatible with the site, said Andy Parsons, Bookish's chief technology officer.

Mr. Parsons said the site is likely to sell titles in an "e-pub" format that is supported by a number of companies—but not Amazon, which "presents some challenges," he said.

An Amazon spokesperson wasn't available to comment.

The site will also link to other online book-selling stores, including those of independent book stores. Ms. Reidy declined to say which partners the company will work with.

For publishers, helping consumers discover new works is growing more urgent because the number of bookstores where they can discover new titles is declining. Retailers like Amazon.com are capturing a growing share of printed and digital book sales, raising fears among publishers that sales are being consolidated in too few hands.

Mike Shatzkin, CEO of The Idea Logical Co., a consulting firm, said it's too early to tell whether Bookish.com will succeed. He noted that nobody has yet found a way to market books as effectively online as in stores. "If they solve that, more power to them," he said.

Bookish will promote itself by partnering with AOL Inc., which will promote featured books and authors across its sites, Huffington Post Media Group editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington said in an interview. AOL will also sell ads for the venture.

Ms. Reidy said the site isn't designed to create more competition for established online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. "This is about providing the book world with something we feel isn't there now," she said.

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[sr71plt]

E-publishers have already been doing this for years. Most book buyers, though, will continue to go to Amazon.com or B&N.com, etc. Few readers know or care who the publisher of a book they are looking for is.

 

[lovecraft68]

This will be a boon to those too lazy to leave there house and are already doing all their buying on line anyways. For the real book lovers and collectors it still means what the entire e-market means to me: Nothing.

Although I am currently selling in the e-publishing format I am moving with the times and it is cheap and easy. I myself have never read nor will red an e-book. I have a room in my basement that is wall to wall book shelves and have piles of books on the floor that there is no room for and keep adding to them. I just love books and hopefully there are enough like me to keep it so that paperbacks and hardcovers continue to be published.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

This will be a boon to those too lazy to leave there house and are already doing all their buying on line anyways. For the real book lovers and collectors it still means what the entire e-market means to me: Nothing.

Although I am currently selling in the e-publishing format I am moving with the times and it is cheap and easy. I myself have never read nor will red an e-book. I have a room in my basement that is wall to wall book shelves and have piles of books on the floor that there is no room for and keep adding to them. I just love books and hopefully there are enough like me to keep it so that paperbacks and hardcovers continue to be published.

I kind of agree with you up to a point...that point being trying to move all those books when you do. It's much easier to zip up my collection and move them to a flash drive than packing them away in hundreds of boxes.

And backing them up onto rw-dvd media also saves space.

 

[lovecraft68]

I kind of agree with you up to a point...that point being trying to move all those books when you do. It's much easier to zip up my collection and move them to a flash drive than packing them away in hundreds of boxes.

And backing them up onto rw-dvd media also saves space.

Agreed but understand that I have a collector's mentality. It is fun to hunt down and buy the book. I will actually be moving in a few months and am already well aware of the amount of work that is going to be. I also have over 30,000 comic books although I ma starting to think it is time to part with them.

My thing is I love to read in bed. Wife conks out and I have the lamp on and prop up and read for a couple of hours and it is just not the same with a kindle.