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Sunday, March 26, 2000 By Bob Hoover, Post-Gazette Book Editor
If you're going to launch a new and unfamiliar venture, it helps to have Stephen King's name attached to it.
The mega-selling writer "published" his first e-book March 14, a short story, actually, called "Riding the Bullet."
E-books are small video screens with digital text storage capacity. The contents are downloaded from Web sites, and the reader can then scroll the pages at his or her own pace.
King's agent, Ralph Vincinanza, told the trade magazine Publishers Weekly that he proposed the gimmick as a test drive for the new market. Collaborating with Peter Straub, King is writing a sequel to "The Talisman" for publication next year, and marketing plans call for an electronic version of a "bridge story" between the two books.
To pave the way, Vincinanza and King released "Riding the Bullet" through Scribner and his own imprint, Philtrum Press. For $2.50, the story was made available to e-books, Palm Pilots and personal computers only; it could not be printed or copied.
Buyers could order it from the publisher, as well as Internet stores such as Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com. Some outlets made the story available for free.
It worked big time. Although orders for the book temporarily overwhelmed the electronic transfer process, more than 400,000 "books" were sold in one day, according to Simon & Schuster, Scribner's parent company.
No conventional book ever did a comparable one-day business, the publisher added.
The success of the 66-page horror tale (you can read an excerpt on www.simonsays.com) certainly catapulted e-books into the national spotlight.
Also giving the business a boost was the emergence this month of Mightywords, a spin-off of the Fatbrain.com Web site.
Mightywords intends to offer what it calls original "e-matter" from established authors. So far, it's signed Pete Hamill, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jonathan Kellerman (six-figure advances have been rumored) to write essays on the Bill of Rights.
Fatbrain has been offering previously published material since last year; new writings will only be on Mightywords.
A handful of Web sites offer e-book downloads, but conventional publishers have been reluctant to take up the technology -- until now.
St. Martin's Press, a division of Holtzbrinck, the German company that also owns Henry Holt and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, is releasing 28 new titles online as well as between hardcovers.
Among them is "Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life" by pop biographer Donald Spoto.
St. Martin's has been offering some of its previously published books in an e-book format since 1998; this is the first time it's released the two versions simultaneously.
Other mainline houses, including Simon & Schuster, have told the trade media that they are studying the electronic publishing field as well.
Purists are cringing at e-books, but let's face it, they are well on their way to becoming the cellular phones of reading. Some are now priced below $200. A friend who uses one reports that they are perfect for reading in bed. With its own light source, the e-book can be read in a dark bedroom without disturbing a snoozing bed mate.
They are also a logical extension of a culture that is growing more and more at home with the Internet. Many people are now comfortable with buying products on their computer. Now e-books take the experience a step further -- you can buy and get your purchase at practically the same time. No more waiting for the delivery truck.
Publishers are interested because of the cost-saving prospects. If e-books become commonplace, they can cut back press runs, reduce warehouse inventories and trim the number of returned copies.
Faced with increasing storage problems, libraries will undoubtedly find a place for e-books. Armed with your storage unit, you could either "borrow" a book by plugging it in at a library connection or do it over the home computer.
Of course, there will always be a place for the traditional book, particularly those that are extensively illustrated. And if you really like what you've read, you can always buy the hardcover for your home library.
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