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To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (82739)	11/2/1999 8:31:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

November 2, 1999 Barnes & Noble to Buy a Stake In Web Publisher iUniverse.com By REBECCA QUICK Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL NEW YORK -- Barnes & Noble Inc. is getting into the publishing business with a vanity press that will print would-be authors' tomes, and also market them online as well as in hundreds of Barnes & Noble bookstores. Tuesday, Barnes & Noble is expected to announce it is taking a 49% stake in closely held Web publisher iUniverse.com Inc. iUniverse uses print-on-demand technology to publish books for new and out-of-print authors, and then lists the books on its Web site (www.iuniverse.com) as well as with online booksellers. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. In addition to using online technology, iUniverse distributes conventionally published works of some of its more popular authors to Barnes & Noble and other bricks-and-mortar booksellers, which then sell those books in their stores around the country. The agreement is the latest example of the Internet's growing power to exclude middlemen -- in this case, the powerful New York City publishing houses that largely control which books make it into print and onto store shelves. Critics have long complained book offerings are bland and homogeneous because publishers won't take risks on new, untested authors. But, by cutting traditional publishing houses out of the loop, industry watchers also worry the overall quality of publishing may suffer. "If the stuff's been rejected, there's probably a reason -- a vanity publisher is sort of a last resort for an author," said Letty Cottin Pogrebin, president of the Authors Guild, the nation's largest society of published authors. "I hope people aren't reading stuff that's so bad they get turned off to reading." iUniverse says for $99, it will print one copy of a book from "just about anyone," other than works containing hate language or pornography. It contends it is providing a valuable service by printing manuscripts that are unfairly overlooked by traditional publishers. For $299, authors can submit their manuscripts to the Web site's Writer's Showcase section, where an editorial team from iUniverse and Writer's Digest will decide whether to publish the manuscript and promote it to major booksellers. If the editors reject the manuscript, the author's money is refunded. "Traditional publishers think that if a book sells just a few thousand copies it's a big loser, but we think there's a huge opportunity" for niche books in today's market, said Richard Tam, founder and chief executive officer of iUniverse.com. For Barnes & Noble, the deal means not having to rely entirely on traditional publishers for a variety of book offerings. "Why not provide a better way for the millions of writers who are frustrated by high rejection rates" at traditional publishing houses today, said Steve Riggio, vice chairman of Barnes & Noble. Natasha Munson is one of those frustrated authors. The 27-year-old sent her first novel, which she describes as an inspirational book for young black women, to three big publishing houses a year ago; none of the publishers acknowledged even receiving the manuscript. So in September, she sent the manuscript to iUniverse, and now Barnes & Noble has agreed to buy several thousand copies for its stores. "It's amazing -- I never expected it could get picked up by Barnes & Noble," said Ms. Munson, whose book is called "Life Lessons For My Black Girls." iUniverse, Campbell, Calif., published about 600 titles in the last year and has 300 employees. Many of those books are sold by online booksellers such as Amazon.com Inc. But only about five or six were picked up by retail stores this year. By the end of this month, about 15 iUniverse titles are scheduled to appear in Barnes & Noble stores.