One of the things that Simon & Schuster is noted for is its antagonism towards libraries. Its policy is that it will not sell ebooks to them. However, in a great show of public spirit (sarcasm intended!), S&S has broken down and agreed to sell Jean Thompson’s The Year We Left Home in ebook format to libraries.
This is because the book was selected by the Iowa Center for the Book for its All Iowa Reads program. S&S does not have a large print version of the book available, and so All Iowa Reads was able to convince the company, evidently after a lot of work, that an ebook version was essential if readers with disabilities were to be able to participate in the 11 year-old program. At least 100 Iowa libraries participate in the All Iowa Reads program.
One book down, the entire S&S catalog to go.
Paul Biba is a retired corporate international lawyer who has worked in 53 countries. Since he is a very fast reader he came to ebooks out of self-defense in order to avoid carrying a suitcase of books on his travels around the world. An early ebook adopter, he has read on Palms, Pocket PCs and practically every device that has been out there. After being a frequent contributor to TeleRead.com, the oldest ebook/epublishing blog on the net, Paul became TeleRead's Editor-in-Chief, a position he recently resigned. Send Paul an email to paulkbiba@gmail.com
