Simon & Schuster to Publish eBooks Beginning Fall 2000
Posted on August 23, 2000
Simon & Schuster has announced its first full season of original eBooks, to be published beginning Fall 2000. The list, featuring titles from every Simon & Schuster book publishing division, will be complemented by a growing selection of simultaneous electronic publications for regularly scheduled paper-and-ink titles, as well as continuous electronic updating of previously published books. The publisher also expects that more original titles will be added to the Fall schedule in the near future.
Simon & Schuster is not planning a separate or centralized operating division for its eBook publishing efforts. Electronic titles will be acquired and published by the existing editorial and marketing staffs within each division and imprint. Technical support and guidance will be provided by the Simon & Schuster Online division. Time Warner Publishing and Random House have recently announced seperate imprints that only publish ebooks.
Jack Romanos, President and COO of Simon & Schuster, Inc, said ``Our focus remains delivering authors and their works to readers. By bringing the talented and creative staff we already have in place into the electronic world, we can utilize their proven expertise in marketing to specific interest groups and categories, and fully leverage our editorial capabilities in this exciting new medium.''
The first season will include original titles that range from business and personal finance to fiction, popular culture, health, children's nonfiction, games, and educational reference. It features titles from well-known authors such as Stephen Ambrose, V.C. Andrews, Ann Beattie, Jimmy Carter, Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, George Foreman, Stephen King, Howard Kurtz, David Maraniss and Ellen Nakashima, Colleen McCullough, Bill McKibben, Reynolds Price, Hunter S. Thompson, Bob Woodward, Jesse Ventura, as well as well-known franchises like The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Medical School, VH1, and Star Trek.
``This first group of original eBooks will draw on the diverse editorial strengths of our divisions, and the robust brands for which Simon & Schuster is known,'' said Romanos. ``Each of these books has an identifiable audience that we believe we can reach, both early adopters and new eBook readers who will help expand the marketplace.''
Fall 2000 eBook titles from Simon & Schuster include:
- Blair Witch: Graveyard Shift, for fans of the hit movie.
- The Fortune Tellers by Howard Kurtz a simultaneous release of the latest book from the bestselling author of Spin Cycle.
- Wall Street Journal eBooks: information on topics ranging from small business to retirement, e-commerce and world business.
- Stephen King's On Writing, a memoir of his craft, published simultaneously in eBook.
- Screwjack, three stories by journalist Hunter S. Thompson, released serially to preview the November hardcover publication.
- Stephen Ambrose's Nothing Like It In the World, the story of the transcontinental railroad, in simultaneous eBook release, from the author of Undaunted Courage and D-Day.
- Ann Beattie's Perfect Recall, a new, previously unpublished short story previewing the author's latest collection.
- Jimmy Carter's boyhood memoir, An Hour Before Daylight, a simultaneous electronic publication.
- Bob Woodward's Maestro: Inside Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom.
- President George W. Bush or President Albert Gore Jr. On November 7, America chooses the 43rd President. At exactly 12:01am on November 8th, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing will release an eBook biography of our new president, from childhood to acceptance speech
- Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft, original eBook prequels to upcoming novels based on computer games from Blizzard Entertainment.
- Colleen McCullough's Morgan's Run, the simultaneous eBook of the new novel from the author of The Thorn Birds.
- Jesse Ventura's Do I Stand Alone?, frank opinions from one of the governor of Minnesota. Published simultaneously.
- Star Trek S.C.E: three titles in an exclusively eBook series featuring the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.