Byliner is a digital publishing company that specializes in one of the fastest growing segments of ebooks: e-serials. These quick-read stories range between 5,000 and 30,000 words and the company has published works by Jon Krakauer, Nick Hornby, Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan, Ann Patchett, Buzz Bissinger, and Jane Smiley. Byliner announced today a new deal with Ingram that should see a far greater viability in its titles.
The main benefit Byliner secures from this deal is greater reach into brick and motor bookstores. Right now the company primarily distributes its catalog of ebooks to Amazon, Apple’s iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play. It will be interesting to see if Ingram can put them into enough bookstores so the very short titles gain some traction.
e-Serials is something many companies are experimenting with. The Guardian, Penguin, National Geographic, and Kindle Series are new ways of presenting original content that is too short to be a full book and too long for publication into magazines. The digital realm is the perfect place for this, as the titles often are very affordable and easy read on an e-reader in short bursts. Whether e-serials work outside the digital realm, it remains to be seen.
“The combination of Ingram’s extensive distribution network, integrated services, and long-standing relationships in the book trade provides a unique solution for digital-first publishers to get the most value out of their content and reach more readers worldwide,” says Mark Ouimet, Vice President and General Manager, Ingram Publisher Services. “Working with Ingram and Graphic Arts Books, Byliner will have our full offering available to them to expand their reach and drive sales in both print and digital. We look forward to putting our comprehensive services to work for them.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
