LAST YEAR -- A TOUGH READ FOR E-BOOKS

It's been a difficult year for e-publishing, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering it's been a difficult year for businesses in general, and particularly those having to do with the Internet. As 2001 comes to a close, we made the hard decision to go ahead with our plans and stay in the precarious field of e-book commerce. Our first offering,   "THE OEDIPUS SYNDROME"  Book 1 - Blind Intentions: TRILOGY  has done well in its first two publishing weeks.

We have solidified our list of e-books and e-authors. They are in different genres and will have an appeal to a wider range of audience, featuring two Romance Novels, three Science Fiction Novels, one Fiction Mystery Novel and a Self-Improvement Digest. Besides our launching of   "THE OEDIPUS SYNDROME"   we have also added three short stories under the title of   TRILOGY: Snippets From Three Lives  

Since it was a bad year, we'll start with the bad news. The sad thing about e-commerce over this last year was the overblown expectations of a dot-com revolution and the idea that technology can conquer all, combined with a recession and a newly subdued country veering towards conservatism and fear, make it hard to continue being optimistic and creative in a field that looks to change our reading habits and grow towards something new. I know a lot of people were disappointed that e-books didn't get the leg up it looked like they were going to get in 2001, especially in the wake of the Stephen King's, "Riding the Bullet", success but it strikes me that e-books now are at the place, professionally, where the Internet was in 2000. E-books aren't going to be the panacea everyone though it would be but building a slow, solid foundation can only take us up.

What was the best news of the last 12 months? The statistics! The number of e-books available for download on the Internet has passed 20,000. The number of Net users who will download E-Books is heading towards 1 billion. The growing tendency is that online zines, journals and newsletters are taking a serious place on the Web. Since writers have always depended on the network of little magazines to build an audience and establish a publication base, the growing strength of the online zines represents a valuable resource for writers and a new source of material for publishers. To cite one example: Print law books are just about gone. People don't use them in law firms anymore. It's all-electronic books or is online.

A revolution has occurred. All of this great new technology really works for the right people -- the authors and their readers.

In the coming months, please look for our ARTISTS CORNER to flourish and bear fruit. Along with our Creative Director, Delvin Shrout, our Marketing and Technical V.P., has worked hard with the artists, especially a talented Sterling Silversmith who interprets and replicates renaissance pieces. His forte is picture frames, jewel boxes, vases, bowls and centerpieces.

In the second month of our second year, as everything falls into place, we breathe easier. Again, we would like to thank our readers for their loyalty and support and we want to take this opportunity to say how pleased we are at the consistency of the e-mail responses to our PressPoints features. The contributions, stories as well as tidbits, opinions, critical as well as commentary, anecdotes, which are both personal and general, all are taken seriously here and they are greatly appreciated. We hope you all stay with us in the coming year and that your numbers grow as we grow.

Marie Villarreal, Chief Editor

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