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To: D.B. Cooper who wrote (2760)	6/2/2000 6:59:00 AM
From: D.B. Cooper	Respond to of 6516

easy reading Thursday June 1 6:41 PM ET E-Books Will Challenge Paper, E-Publishers Predict By Andrew Stern CHICAGO (Reuters) - Electronic books offer even the most mundane authors a forum and may some day overtake books read on paper, a panel of electronic publishers said on Thursday. ``There is the author, the consumer and the server -- everything else is noise,'' Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) executive Steve Stone told an audience at BookExpo America, the annual convention for booksellers, publishers and others in the industry this week in Chicago. Electronic book sales, currently a tiny proportion of total book sales, are expected to climb to 10 percent of the market by 2005, according to a study by Andersen Consulting. Speak your mind Discuss this story with other people. [Start a Conversation] (Requires Yahoo! Messenger) By 2005, electronic books sales will reach $2.3 billion, of which about one-third, or $700 million, will cannibalize sales of books on paper, the study projected. Electronic books can be downloaded to a personal computer, or to a hand-held reading device such as a PalmPilot, or they can be printed ``on demand.'' Earlier this year, the outpouring of interest in Stephen King's Web-only novella, ``Riding the Bullet'', showed the potential bonanza of downloading electronic books off the Internet, panelists said. Electronic book publishing also allows unknown authors -- even those publishing their family tree for relatives -- to potentially profit from Internet sales, said panelist Kenzi Sugihara of New York electronic publisher iUniverse.com Inc. He said online sales of 100 copies might some day be considered successful. Authors can become their own publishers, and take the retailer's role as well, said panelist Richard Curtis who listed two of his companies as e-right and e-reads. ``What the book of the future will look like -- our crystal ball is cloudy at this point,'' said Sol Rosenberg, president of Versaware Inc.'s division that helps book publishers with their on-line business. Sounds and images could add value to electronic books, panelists said. But authors may have to take more responsibility for getting their book noticed through the online clutter, said John Feldcamp of online publisher Xlibris. Vanity presses have existed for years, but the ease of Web publishing creates a new outlet for more writers. While the number of digitized books is in the thousands compared to the millions of printed book titles, the cost of creating an ebook can be only a few hundred dollars or less, and the available library is quickly expanding, Andersen's Kenneth Mifflin said. Mifflin was in a group presenting their views on creating a technological standard for online publishing to make things easier for readers. ``Piracy is an issue but not the only issue'' for online publishers of new books, Mifflin said. ``Any digitized format can be coded and encrypted,'' he said. ``The idea is to facilitate the reader getting it.'' dailynews.yahoo.com Good Luck Don