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Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web Coming Soon to an eBookstore Near You

chweb[1]At long last, 3 classic kid’s books by EB White will soon be released as ebooks. HarperCollins announced on Wednesday that The Trumpet of the Swan, Charlotte’s Web, and Stuart Little will be available as ebooks starting 17 March.

The author’s heirs, including his granddaughter Martha White, had been holding out because they believed that ebook sales would hurt print sales.

"After discussing this with our agent (Amanda Urban), it’s become apparent to us that e-books complement sales of paper books, instead of replacing sales," White told the AP. "The print books of Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web have been selling strongly, and we felt like it was time to allow the books into the market in other formats."

With Neilsen showing print sales for fantasy novels dropping by 58% since the rise of ebooks, it is actually long past the time when these ebooks should have been released, but better late than never. And with the Pew Research Center reporting that 28% of Americans had read an ebook in the 12 months leading up to January 2014, clearly there’s an audience worth reaching.

Nevertheless, White has no plans to offer the ebooks via ebook subscription services like Oyster or Scribd. "It’s not something we’ve been asked about and I don’t find myself wanting to go down that road," she said. "The print book is always our primary concern and the bookstores are what we want to support."

The White estate was one of the last digital holdouts, leaving Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye as one of the last few notable works still unavailable.

The ebooks are up for pre-order in the Kindle Store and elsewhere with prices ranging from $5.70 to $6.64.

AP

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Comments


R February 5, 2015 um 10:29 pm

Ebook of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is on Amazon, but not "The Catcher in the Rye" or other Salinger’s works which I would like to buy.

I only buy English ebooks now. I have not much space to store printed books any more. Providing ebooks is definitely a way to make more money for the publisher.

Nate Hoffelder February 6, 2015 um 6:54 am

Fixed it, thank you.

Anne February 6, 2015 um 11:14 am

It’s nice that EB White’s heirs have finally decided to add the digital format. I’m not in the market in for these particular books but if fiction is not available digitally, I pass and I know I’m not the only one.

Also, I don’t think "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is yet available to Canadian and US readers in the kindle format. If I’m wrong, I’d appreciate someone posting a link. This is one book that I check periodically because my mom really wants to read it.

Timothy Wilhoit February 7, 2015 um 8:06 pm

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" is not available in digital format on Amazon.com. There is a "Bloom’s Guides" available for $16.50 but it’s been negatively rated into oblivion by angry customers who purchased it in error. But wait, Google Play Books has the book…for only $6.15. Too bad the format is "scanned pages" and the publisher is listed as "New York Classics." If the publisher were listed as HarperCollins, then maybe it would not be a pirated copy that Google was selling. Sadly, it’s pirated.


R February 7, 2015 um 10:45 pm

Hello Anne,

This is the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Years-Solitude-Marquez-2014-ebook/dp/B00HVPSXNS/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Maybe it is not available to US customers?


Jim Scarborough February 8, 2015 um 7:57 am

The Kindle edition exists and is available to UK customers but is unavailable to US customers. I don’t know if it’s available in Canada: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hundred-Years-Solitude-Marquez-2014-ebook/dp/B00HVPSXNS

Nate Hoffelder February 8, 2015 um 1:17 pm

So basically the situation is the same as for Dahl’s Matilda , which is available everywhere except the US.


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