Baker & Taylor to Offer Smashwords ebooks in Blio eReading Application and Axis360 Digital Media Library Platform
Poster: SySAdmin
Posted on March 2, 2012 at 9:14:01 AM
Baker & Taylor to Offer Smashwords ebooks in Blio eReading Application and Axis360 Digital Media Library Platform
Leading digital book distributor to make nearly 100,000 original Smashwords ebooks available to Blio readers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. and LOS GATOS, Calif., March 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Baker & Taylor, Inc., the world's largest distributor of digital and physical books, together with K-NFB Reading Technology, developer of the Blio eReading application, today announced a distribution agreement with Smashwords that will bring nearly 100,000 independently-published ebooks to the Blio store.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090529/CL24290LOGO )
Blio is the feature-rich ereading application that allows readers to experience ereading in a new way, and use their digital library across multiple devices. Smashwords is the leading distributor of indie (self-published) ebooks, offering a catalog of over 100,000 original titles representing 37,000 indie authors and small presses around the world.
"Now that Blio offers the Smashwords catalogue, there is a really exciting opportunity for readers to discover the best in up-and-coming and independent authors and to have a great digital experience reading those books," said Bob Nelson, president of Baker & Taylor's Digital Group. "Our agreement with Smashwords expands the Blio library, offering new works across every genre."
The agreement will also bring Smashwords ebooks to public libraries that subscribe to Baker & Taylor's new Axis360 digital media platform. Axis360, which was launched last year, has been deployed by several top public library systems in the U.S. Dozens more libraries are converting to the platform as well.
Using Blio, readers can sample and purchase Smashwords books, create digital libraries for purchased and sampled titles, publish text or YouTube video book reviews, and "favorite" their chosen authors, publishers and titles.
"This agreement expands the global reach of the Smashwords distribution network," said Mark Coker, founder Smashwords. "Blio offers a rich digital reading experience for our reflowable books, and is widely accessible across a range of devices and operating systems. I'm also pleased to see our books gain increased exposure to library patrons as Baker & Taylor rolls out its new Axis360 digital media platform to libraries in the months and years ahead."
For more information, please visit http://www.blio.com.
About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. (http://www.baker-taylor.com) is the world's largest distributor of books, digital content and entertainment products. The company leverages its unsurpassed worldwide distribution network to deliver rich content in multiple formats, anytime and anywhere. Baker & Taylor offers cutting-edge digital media services and innovative technology platforms to thousands of publishers, libraries and retailers worldwide. Baker & Taylor also offers industry-leading customized library services and retail merchandising solutions. Baker & Taylor is proud to power Blio (blioreader.com), the world's most flexible, engaging and revolutionary e-Reading application. Charlotte, N.C.-based Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.
Baker & Taylor and the Baker & Taylor logo are trademarks of Baker & Taylor, Inc. Blio is a trademark of K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. Other company and product names mentioned for identification purposes may be trademarks of their respective owners.
About Smashwords
Founded in 2008, Smashwords is the leading distributor of indie ebooks. More than 37,000 authors, small presses and literary agents around the world publish over 100,000 ebooks through Smashwords. Smashwords makes it fast, free and easy for authors, publishers and literary agents to publish and distribute multi-format ebooks. Smashwords distributes to major online retailers such as the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo (which also powers WHSmith and FNAC) and the Diesel eBook Store. Smashwords books are also available via leading mobile e-reading apps such as Blio, Aldiko, Stanza and FBReader. Smashwords is based in Los Gatos, California, and can be reached on the web at http://www.smashwords.com. Visit the official Smashwords blog at http://blog.smashwords.com/.
SOURCE Baker & Taylor, Inc.
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090529/CL24290LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Baker & Taylor, Inc.
CONTACT: Kimberly Kuo, Baker & Taylor, +1-704-998-3118, Kimberly.Ku@Baker-Taylor.com; Jim Azevedo, Smashwords, Inc, Jim@Smashwords.com
Web Site: http://www.baker-taylor.com
Leading digital book distributor to make nearly 100,000 original Smashwords ebooks available to Blio readers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. and LOS GATOS, Calif., March 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Baker & Taylor, Inc., the world's largest distributor of digital and physical books, together with K-NFB Reading Technology, developer of the Blio eReading application, today announced a distribution agreement with Smashwords that will bring nearly 100,000 independently-published ebooks to the Blio store.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090529/CL24290LOGO )
Blio is the feature-rich ereading application that allows readers to experience ereading in a new way, and use their digital library across multiple devices. Smashwords is the leading distributor of indie (self-published) ebooks, offering a catalog of over 100,000 original titles representing 37,000 indie authors and small presses around the world.
"Now that Blio offers the Smashwords catalogue, there is a really exciting opportunity for readers to discover the best in up-and-coming and independent authors and to have a great digital experience reading those books," said Bob Nelson, president of Baker & Taylor's Digital Group. "Our agreement with Smashwords expands the Blio library, offering new works across every genre."
The agreement will also bring Smashwords ebooks to public libraries that subscribe to Baker & Taylor's new Axis360 digital media platform. Axis360, which was launched last year, has been deployed by several top public library systems in the U.S. Dozens more libraries are converting to the platform as well.
Using Blio, readers can sample and purchase Smashwords books, create digital libraries for purchased and sampled titles, publish text or YouTube video book reviews, and "favorite" their chosen authors, publishers and titles.
"This agreement expands the global reach of the Smashwords distribution network," said Mark Coker, founder Smashwords. "Blio offers a rich digital reading experience for our reflowable books, and is widely accessible across a range of devices and operating systems. I'm also pleased to see our books gain increased exposure to library patrons as Baker & Taylor rolls out its new Axis360 digital media platform to libraries in the months and years ahead."
For more information, please visit http://www.blio.com.
About Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor, Inc. (http://www.baker-taylor.com) is the world's largest distributor of books, digital content and entertainment products. The company leverages its unsurpassed worldwide distribution network to deliver rich content in multiple formats, anytime and anywhere. Baker & Taylor offers cutting-edge digital media services and innovative technology platforms to thousands of publishers, libraries and retailers worldwide. Baker & Taylor also offers industry-leading customized library services and retail merchandising solutions. Baker & Taylor is proud to power Blio (blioreader.com), the world's most flexible, engaging and revolutionary e-Reading application. Charlotte, N.C.-based Baker & Taylor is majority owned by Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., an institutional private equity fund managed by Castle Harlan, Inc., a leading private equity investment firm.
Baker & Taylor and the Baker & Taylor logo are trademarks of Baker & Taylor, Inc. Blio is a trademark of K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. Other company and product names mentioned for identification purposes may be trademarks of their respective owners.
About Smashwords
Founded in 2008, Smashwords is the leading distributor of indie ebooks. More than 37,000 authors, small presses and literary agents around the world publish over 100,000 ebooks through Smashwords. Smashwords makes it fast, free and easy for authors, publishers and literary agents to publish and distribute multi-format ebooks. Smashwords distributes to major online retailers such as the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo (which also powers WHSmith and FNAC) and the Diesel eBook Store. Smashwords books are also available via leading mobile e-reading apps such as Blio, Aldiko, Stanza and FBReader. Smashwords is based in Los Gatos, California, and can be reached on the web at http://www.smashwords.com. Visit the official Smashwords blog at http://blog.smashwords.com/.
SOURCE Baker & Taylor, Inc.
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090529/CL24290LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Baker & Taylor, Inc.
CONTACT: Kimberly Kuo, Baker & Taylor, +1-704-998-3118, Kimberly.Ku@Baker-Taylor.com; Jim Azevedo, Smashwords, Inc, Jim@Smashwords.com
Web Site: http://www.baker-taylor.com