E-book publishers have new rivals: news sites

By  Julie Bosman

Book publishers are surrounded by hungry new competitors: Amazon, with its steadily growing imprints; authors who publish their own e-books; and online startups such as the Atavist and Byliner.

Now, they have to contend with another group elbowing into their territory: news organizations.

Swiftly and inexpensively, newspapers, magazines and websites such as the Huffington Post are hunting for revenue by publishing e-books.

And by making e-books that are shorter, cheaper and more quickly produced than the typical book, they are redefining what an e-book is — and who gets to publish it.

This week, the Huffington Post released its second e-book: How We Won by Aaron Belkin, an account of the campaign to end the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay service members. It joins e-books recently published by ABC News, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, Politico and Vanity Fair.

The books occasionally snap up valuable spots on best-seller lists — Open Secrets, an e-book published by The New York Times, landed in the No. 19 spot on The Times’ e-book nonfiction best-seller list in February.

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