Simon &Schuster Offers Fall E-book List

Following the hoopla surrounding Stephen King's e-book in March and months of sporadic e-book releases, Simon & Schuster announced plans to go full force into the e-book market with original and simultaneous e-book and print releases scheduled for the fall.

The first season will include original titles ranging from fiction, popular culture and business to health, children's nonfiction, games and educational reference. The house noted that more titles may be added to the fall list. Jack Romanos, S&S president and COO, said S&S will not set up a separate division for e-book publishing. E-books will be acquired and published by the existing S&S editorial and marketing staffs with technical support from the S&S Online division.

"By bringing the talented and creative staff we already have in place into the electronic world," Romanos said, "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." He added, "Each of these books has an identifiable audience that we believe we can reach." Original e-books will be priced between $5 and $15, while those released simultaneously with hardcovers will cost the same as the print edition.

Among the fall e-book releases are Wall Street Journal e-books, a series of titles from the business journal; Blair Witch: Grave Yard, about the hit fright movie; simultaneous release of Stephen King's On Writing; Hunter S. Thompson's Screwjack, a collection of stories to be released serially as a preview to the November print publication; Ann Beattie's Perfect Recall, a previously unpublished short story; and either President George W. Bush or President Albert Gore Jr., a children's book biography of whichever presidential candidate wins the election. Other authors whose work will appear in e-book form include Jesse Ventura, Bob Woodward, Stephen Ambrose and former president Jimmy Carter.