Publishing: EBSCO and Penguin Random House Partner on Ebooks

Abstract

EBSCO Information Services announced a partnership with Penguin Random House (PRH) in February and now offers the publisher's entire collection of 21,000 fiction and nonfiction ebook titles from leading authors.

Publishing: EBSCO and Penguin Random House Partner on Ebooks

Some 21,000 new titles have full-text searching

EBSCO Information Services announced a partnership with Penguin Random House (PRH) in February and now offers the publisher's entire collection of 21,000 fiction and nonfiction ebook titles from leading authors including John Grisham, Mindy Kaling, Paula Hawkins, Toni Morrison, and Danielle Steel. PRH ebooks will join titles from Big Five publisher Hachette, as well as Perseus [see above], Algonquin, Workman, Sourcebooks, Lerner, and other companies, in EBSCO eBooks collections.

PRH recently introduced new unified, companywide terms of sale (TOS) beginning January 1. Sales through EBSCO eBooks will follow the same model that PRH has instituted with OverDrive, Baker & Taylor (B&T) Axis 360, the 3M Cloud Library, and Odilo--one ebook, one user, uncapped perpetual licenses with variable pricing ranging from under $20 to a maximum of $65 per title. The publisher also offers regular special promotions on titles including New York Times best sellers, award winners, backlist, and book club favorites. According to a company announcement, "EBSCO does not add markups or fees to this or any collection of titles."

EBSCO customers can purchase EBSCO eBooks, including the PRH titles, through EBSCO, YBP GOBI, Ingram's OASIS platform, and B&T's TitleSource 3.

"All PRH titles are eligible for download and can be read on any desktop or ereader that is compatible with Adobe DRM," including EBSCO's ebook app for iOS and Android, Kathleen McEvoy, EBSCO VP of communications, told LJ .

In addition, McEvoy added that "the full text of each ebook is indexed and searchable. Users can search the full text of every ebook to aid with discovery."

John Brennan, EBSCO's senior director of ebook product management, said that the partnership will help provide libraries with easy access to high-demand ebooks, while expanding the range of titles and pricing options available among EBSCO's growing collection of more than 800,000 ebooks.