Enhanced e-Book Classics Newest Penguin Digital Effort  

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 3/13/2008 7:07:00 AM

Penguin is committed to trying different things in the digital space and things that work will be continued and those that don’t will be stopped, company chairman John Makinson told journalists at a luncheon in New York Wednesday. In that spirit, Penguin USA will launch a line of enhanced e-book classics this May, beginning with Pride and Prejudice. The new e-books, which will be compatible with all e-book devices, will feature an array of features, including a filmography, period book reviews, recipes and black-and-white illustrations. Price will be the same as the print edition, $8. Nine other Penguin classics will be released in the enhanced format in the fall. Makinson said the classics are a “great place to start” to test the possibilities of the electronic format.

Penguin has also announced that its U.K. subsidiary, which has been testing PDF downloads of first chapters for some of its books, will start to offer first chapters of all new fiction titles beginning March 17 at penguin.co.uk. Penguin Tasters will work on iPhone, Palms or Blackberrys and can also be read on computer screens or printed out. Plans are in the works to make Tasters available in the U.S.

At the lunch, Makinson said sales of e-books in the first two months of 2008 are running ahead of the comparable . The Kindle generated a spike in interest, but Genevieve Shore, global digital director for Penguin Group, said sales have come across all devices, with the most sales coming from the Sony Reader. While the number of dedicated e-book readers has proliferated in recent months, Shore said she believes the long-term trend is toward one device that will eventually allow consumers to do a range of things from reading content to making phone calls.