Agate Publishing announced Friday the official launch of the Chicago Tribune Ebook Collection, a collaboration between the Chicagoland publisher’s year-old Agate Digital imprint and the 165-year-old newspaper begun last spring. The two companies are partnering to develop stand-alone e-books based on content originally published in the newspaper, including news and feature stories, columns, and photography. The e-books will draw from contemporary material, as well as that contained in the newspaper’s archives. The Chicago Tribune's archives can be accessed back to 1852.

Agate Digital has published to date two dozen e-books since the partnership began. While the company declined to disclose sales figures, Anjali Becker, Agate Publishing’s marketing and publicity coordinator, said that the e-books are selling well, with The Best of Mary Schmich, 10 Things You Might Not Know, Charlie Trotter, and Capone being the current bestsellers.

Fifty titles are scheduled for publication by the end of this year. E-books scheduled for release include: Daley: A Retrospective; Jesse Jackson Jr.; Chicago City Guide; Duerson: Triumph, Trauma, and Tragedy in the NFL; and Good Eating’s Thanksgiving Recipes.

Chicago Tribune Ebook Collection titles are sold in all digital formats; many of the titles retail for $4.99.

"We want these books to be very attractively priced for readers. We see a great price as a way to encourage readers to explore and adopt these sorts of e-books more readily,” Doug Seibold, Agate’s publisher said. “Many of these Tribune e-books are relatively brief, but others are more conventionally sized. We plan to do a lot of experimenting with the prices of these e-books; that's one of the great opportunities that comes with this format."