Electronic Publisher for Palm Computing Platform, Peanut Press, Announces Site Enhancements
SUDBURY, Mass. — March 1, 1999 — When visitors log onto www.peanutpress.com today they'll discover a multitude of enhancements and additions to further improve upon the e-book publisher's site. Not only will PalmPilot owners find an upgraded version of the free Peanut Reader software, but they will also find the newly released Peanut MakeBook software as well as a multitude of first-run contemporary books from a large variety of publishers' frontlists. The titles target a wide variety of interests, with subjects ranging from travel, business and history to science fiction, fiction and romance.
In addition, PalmPilot reading enthusiasts overseas will now be able to purchase Peanut Press books anywhere in the world with the recent opening of the Peanut Press international bookstore. Other news includes the announcement of an alliance with a major print magazine. Now Pilot users have the ability to enjoy reading one of the premiere PalmPilot publications, Tap magazine, on their PalmPilot organizers, beginning with the publication's 2.0 issue.
Peanut Press offers the more than two million PalmPilot owners the ability to purchase and download first-run books through an easy-to-use, web-based storefront in a secure electronic format.
"Since we went live in October, our repeat business has been so strong that our challenge has been keeping up with the demand for a wide variety of new and exciting titles," said Mark Reichelt, CEO and co-founder of Peanut Press. "We're pleased to announce today that we're now selling over 90 books from an impressive list of publishers which continues to grow daily," Reichelt continued.
Publishers include such houses as Tor Books/St. Martin's Press; Avery Publishing Group; Council Oak Books; Aslan Publishing; Intrigue Press; Velocity Business Publishing; travel book publishers, Open Road publishing; and romance novel publisher, Dorchester Publishing.
Peanut Press books include such popular titles as "The Deal" by former Apple Insider Joe Hutsko, "A Time of Changes" by science fiction author Robert Silverberg and "Slant" by science fiction author Greg Bear.
"In addition to the new titles and publishers, our customers are also getting an improved reader on which to enjoy their books," said Jeff Strobel, Peanut Press president and company co-founder. "The upgraded Peanut Reader software offers users such improvements as faster paging, user-definable screen orientation, annotation editing plus many other features," continued Strobel.
HOW PEANUT PRESS WORKS
Peanut Press establishes partnerships with major publishers of hardcover and paperback books, obtaining the subsidiary rights to reprint their books for the Peanut Press proprietary reader software.
Peanut Press offers an international, web-based storefront, featuring unlimited shelf space, easy browsing and purchasing, and real-time order fulfillment. Download time for the average Peanut Press book is about one minute on a 28.8 modem. When the customer places the PalmPilot device in its cradle and pushes the HotSync(TM) Button, the book is loaded on the PalmPilot organizer, ready for reading. The latest version, the Palm IIIx organizer, can easily hold over ten average-length books. The cost of the books is competitive with their paper counterparts and ranges in price from $ 2.00 – $ 14.99.
WHY PEANUT PRESS?
Unlike other companies with handheld readers, Peanut Press is initially targeting the large and rapidly growing installed base of PalmPilot organizers. Peanut Press offers many popular contemporary fiction, nonfiction, travel, business books and romance novels from which readers can choose.
ABOUT PEANUT PRESS
Founded in 1998 by Jeff Strobel and Mark Reichelt, Peanut Press is dedicated to providing secure electronic publishing, distribution, and sales of high-quality fiction and nonfiction. Peanut Press plans to offer books in the future for any hand-held device that gains significant market share.
CONTACT:
Cogent Public Relations
Jennifer Genest, 781/937-3489