There are several prominent print publishers that are releasing titles as ebooks at the same time that they are released as print books. There are also a number of publishers that publish ebooks exclusively with no print division. There are also a few publishers that are releasing exclusive titles in ebook form that are not available in print.
Harlequin Ebooks
Harlequin is one of the largest publishers in North America, publishing about 120 titles every month. Harlequin now sells ebook versions of their print books and for a price that is similar to the print version. Several format choices are available for readers, including Adobe PDF.
Harlequin Mini is a series of short stories, each sold in ebook format for under a dollar apiece. The stories are unavailable in print. The harlequin Mini stories are available for a quick read but are formatted so that they can not be printed, emailed or saved.
Simon and Schuster
Another huge publisher, Simon and Schuster now has a section of its website devoted to ebooks. These are digital versions of their published print works. Like the Harlequin Mini, Simon and Schuster ebooks can not be printed or shared. The ebook titles are available for a lower rate than the print versions of each.
HarperCollins
One of the world's biggest publishers, HarperCollins, offers ebook versions of its print titles. It also offers audio books online, called e-audio. The site allows its ebooks to be saved on the buyer's computer. It also provides a buyer account that includes a library of all the books that the buyer has downloaded. Through the buyer's library, any of the downloaded titles can be downloaded again.
Random House
The largest trade book publisher in any English-speaking country, Random House offers ebooks versions of their print books as well as titles that are exclusively available in ebook form.
At the recent Book Expo America, book publishers explored many ways to incorporate ebooks into their businesses and to include bookstores in their sales. The Expo, is the largest annual convention for book publishers, retailers and authors. According to the Los Angeles Times, at the most recent Expo there were several dozen discussions about ebooks and other types of digital publishing, such as print-on-demand books.
In the future, physical bookstores may offer ebooks at kiosks, burning them onto CDs for the buyer. There are already a number of bookstores that do this for MP3s and other digital products. Several large retailers, such as Borders, are already experimenting with these kiosks.
