American Booksellers Association Internet bookstore, BookSense.com (http://booksense.com) has recently signed an agreement with Ingram Digital Ventures. The agreement will allow bookstores that participate in the BookSense.com program to sell e-books. They will be able to sell the e-books in three formats. These include: Microsoft, Palm, and Adobe. The agreement should take effect starting sometime in early 2007.
BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos had the following to say about the agreement: "The association has taken a wait-and-see approach to e-books over the past several years, but we feel now is the right time...We're particularly happy to be working with Ingram Digital Ventures." The agreement will also allow them to participate in the Caravan Project.
The Caravan Project (www.caravanbooks.org) will allow customers of books an on-demand choice of the type of book format they want. They can chose from the following: the traditional hardcover or paperback editions, e-books or audio books, which you can download in whole or by chapters. Large-print print-on-demand versions as an option are also currently on the way.
This move to e-books shows that people are becoming more and more aware of the demand for e-books and the digital book. Will the book ever go away? Only time will tell.
http://bookseller-association.blogspot.com/2006/12/booksense-to-go-digital.html
http://www.news.bookweb.org/news/4902.html