Rowman & Littlefield has opened its e-bookstore, going live with roughly 12,000 titles. The retail platform, the distributor said, is "fully integrated" with the company's main Web site. And, through the site, www.rowman.com, individual consumers, businesses and libraries can buy e-books.
The launch, timed to next week's BookExpo America, is R&L added, tied to the "Unity platform for title development" which maintains metadata and digital assets associated with every new book. This, R&L elaborated, means that new titles can be converted for purchase as soon as they are published. At present, libraries can buy e-books only for single use, but the company said it is working on a plan to be able to sell e-books directly to libraries which can then be loaned to patrons.
Speaking to the launch of the site, R&L CEO Jed Lyons said: "We know that our academic, library, professional and trade customers all value the ability to access our titles in every format, and this new platform gives us the capability to deliver books instantly to a range of devices including PCs, MACs, IOS and Android." In the future, Lyons added, R&L's sister company, NBN, will be able to offer the platform to its clients.
