New deals for Ebooks

Claremont-based online book company Ebooks Corporation has won two major supply contracts with companies in the publishing and book retailing industries.

Ebooks has signed an agreement with UK-based Cambridge University Press to supply its eb20 reading technology, which will allow the publisher to distribute its own collection of online books to academic libraries.

Ebooks has also secured a contract with national book retailer Dymocks to act as a wholesaler of online books.

Ebooks founder Stephen Cole said the deals represented a milestone for the company’s technology division.

“For seven years, we’ve been selling directly to our customers. These two deals position us now as a technology provider,” he said. 

“What we’ve done with these major book industry participants is develop a brand new revenue stream for the company.”

Ebooks will effectively provide a hosted web service to Cambridge University Press, which Mr Cole said would enable the publisher to circumvent online book companies and supply directly to its customers.

The contract is Ebooks’ most significant to date for its Ebook Library Service, which was developed two years ago specifically for academic libraries.

The suite of technologies includes the eb20 reader, which is a Web 2.0 application that overcomes security issues associated with other downloadable document applications, such as Adobe.

“We’ve been selling directly to academic libraries for two years and it is now a very successful business, but this latest deal is the first of its kind,” Mr Cole said.

Ebooks achieved revenue growth of 55 per cent last financial year, and expects to achieve further growth this year.

“These partnerships will contribute significantly to our revenue profile, but it’s not clear yet whether or not it will eclipse [the retail business],” Mr Cole said.

While the company will focus on delivering its contract with Cambridge, which will include an upfront fee and ongoing maintenance costs, Mr Cole said he would be considering similar agreements in future.

He said the depth of the company’s online library had been a significant factor in the Dymocks contract.

“In the case of Dymocks, the repository of books, which is about 104,000 titles, is extremely important for the deal,” Mr Cole said.

“The beauty of our collection from the point of view of a retailer like Dymocks is that our collection covers all subjects and category areas, from popular fiction to medical and science texts.”

Cambridge University Press plans to launch its own ebook product in December, available to the Asia Pacific region.