Chris Griffith
September 27, 2013
Australian IT
Big W has launched an e-bookstore aimed at promoting local authors Source: Supplied
DISCOUNT chain Big W has entered the electronic bookstore business with an online offering that focuses on Australian content.
The site — ebooks.bigw.com.au — features categories such as “hot Aussie romance”, crime and science fiction through to biographies, education, home & garden, and cooking and food.
New releases on its inaugural home page includes Kerry-Anne Walsh’s The Stalking of Julia Gillard, Blanche d’Alpuget’s The Young Lion and Bill Marsh’s Great Australian Outbook School Stories.
BIG W says it has entered the e-book downloads market to offer “a bit of homegrown competition to the likes of iTunes and Amazon”.
The site is starting off with 300,000 titles and offers downloads to almost any device.
In a statement, Big W promises “hundreds of titles each month for as little as 99c or free” with a focus on “books Australians love including Australian fiction”.
A BIG W spokesman said the retailer was a big seller of iPads, Samsung tablets and e-readers and selling e-books would complement those items. He said Big W was already one of Australia’s biggest sellers of printed books.
“We’re catering here for people who love printed books but also those who are moving into e-books,” he said.
Users can download books in e-pub, and PDF formats.
The spokesman said Big W was encouraging Australian authors and publishers to join – althought the site doesn’t appear to include an authors’ portal at present.
However Big W was dealing with publishing houses. These included Penguin Random House, Allen & Unwin and Pan MacMillan.
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