BookExpo America 2009: HarperCollins Featuring e-Galleys at BEA  

By Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 5/27/2009 10:09:00 AM

HarperCollins, which will be using electronic catalogues in its booth at BookExpo America this year, will also distribute the majority of its galleys that way as well. The publisher is using the Symtio card, being tested by a separate HC division as a way to help booksellers sell e-books, to distribute nine children’s galleys, 14 adult titles and one audiobook. Galleys of four adult titles and three children's books will be available in print editions. Josh Marwell, president of HC sales, said using the card should make it easier for booksellers and librarians to take galleys home, as well as being a more environmentally friendly way to give out galleys. In addition, using Symtio will let HC give out a wider range of galleys plus greater quantities of digital galleys than print ones.

The Symtio e-galleys will be available as pdfs and in the ePub format, allowing them to be read on Sony Readers, iPhones, Window and Mac compatible computers and Smartphones. (The audio book, The Strain, will be an MP3 file). To active the e-galley, users login at shop.harpercollins.com/bea and enter the 16-digit PIN number on the back of each card. Files can’t be printed, e-mailed or cut and pasted, and all files will no longer be viewable after September 1. Marwell said HC staff is prepared to help walk book buyers through the Symtio process. Two factors convinced Marwell that e-galleys were worth doing at BEA: the overwhelming positive response to using digital galleys within HC, and the generally good reaction among booksellers to HC’s e-catalogues. Marwell said HC is thinking about using Symtio for e-galleys at ALA later this summer.

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