Publisher Random House Starts EBooks Unit

N E W   Y O R K, July 31 -- Random House Inc., the biggest English-language book publisher, said today it has launched a unit for electronic books, joining other publishers exploringthe new digital medium.

The company, part of Germany’s Bertelsmann AG mediapowerhouse, said in a statement that it has set up a 20-booklist of original electronic fiction and non-fiction. The titlesinclude the memoirs of a New York dominatrix and a writer’ssearch for a baldness cure.

Random House, the second big U.S. publishing house to set upan electronic imprint, will call its new operation AtRandom.

Time Warner Inc. started its own unit, iPublish.com, in May.Simon and Schuster, part of Britain’s Pearson Plc., and RandomHouse also have teamed up with Microsoft Corp. to publish booksfor hand-held devices and computers.

Following King

The Random House move comes just a week after horrornovelist Stephen King broke new electronic ground by offeringonline instalments of his novel The Plant directly toreaders through his Web site for $1 each, bypassing publishersentirely.

The AtRandom titles will be published starting early in2001.

Random House also said it would set up Modern Libraryelectronic books. The program will publish 100 works ofclassic literature from the company’s bound book backlist inelectronic form.

“While technology continues to evolve, the editorialmission of Random House remains the same: to publish the best,widely, and with excellence,” said Ann Godoff, head of RandomHouse Trade Group, which will oversee the new publishingprogram.

The books will be sold online as digital books or in singlecopies printed on demand and available at bookstores. They willnot be shipped to retail outlets.