O'Reilly lauches digital distribution service

O'Reilly Media has launched a new e-book service, which it claims will aggregate content and push it out to the dynamic marketplace of e-books and other digital channels.

Andrew Savikas, Vice President of Digital Initiatives at O'Reilly noted that e-book revenue had increased rapidly.

"During the past 18 months we've seen a dramatic shift in customer preference from print to digital. Overall, printed books are still the biggest sellers for us, but with the market for printed computer books declining at a double-digit rate, digital sales will overtake print much sooner than most people realise."

"It's becoming clear that, as in the print world, there are a handful of very large channels and then a lot of smaller ones that together add up to quite a bit. Pushing a large quantity of content into all of these channels effectively isn't easy, and suggests the role publishers have long played of aggregating authors for retailers and retailers for authors will only grow in importance."

O'Reilly Digital Distribution has already struck deals with a number of online retailers including Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Scribd. They also offer publishers a dedicated sales and marketing team who will actively develop and cultivate strong working relationships with existing and emerging distribution channels.

The new division will be directed by O'Reilly Digital Distribution general manager Pascal Honscher.