Foxit busts out ebook store for eSlick owners

It's been a season of e-readers, that's for sure... and while Foxit is a smaller player in the scene as compared to the Nook or the Kindle, it's got some news of its own to boast about today. That's right, Foxit's launching an online bookstore all its own. The aptly named eSlick Store has been launched in partnership with Fictionwise LLC (a company which is rather interestingly owned by Barnes & Noble), and currently contains about 60,000 books. If you haven't forgotten -- Foxit's also recently released a firmware update which enables its support of EPUB. Full press is after the break.

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FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Foxit Corporation, a leader in eDocument technology for mobile, desktop and on-demand platforms, announces the launch of a new eBookstore, www.eslickbooks.com, in partnership with Fictionwise LLC, a Barnes & Noble Company, for all eSlick device users. Read thousands of eBooks on eSlick Foxit taps into the growing demand for eBooks by partnering with Fictionwise, LLC, a Barnes & Noble Company, and by enabling eSlick users to read eBooks in the popular eReader format.

The eReader format is supported by eSlick's just released version 2.0 firmware. The new Foxit eBookstore, www.eslickbooks.com, allows consumers to search through and buy over 60,000 eBooks. Users can also read eBooks they purchase and download from the popular Barnes & Noble eBookstore, which offers more than one million titles. This allows eSlick users multiple sources for acquiring eBooks. Improving the user experience through software advancement eSlick continues to improve the user experience by leveraging Foxit's strength in the PDF software development arena.

Considering Foxit's impressive growth in the PDF reader market, eSlick is utilizing these advancements to gain advantages over its rivals. eSlick supports multiple formats, including ePub, PDF, TXT, and now eReader. More titles and more features make a better electronic reader "With Fictionwise's new licensing agreement of eReader to Foxit, Foxit eSlick will be one of the first E-Ink reading devices which supports PDF, ePub and eReader," said George Gao, Foxit V.P. of Sales. "We are really excited about this new launch. Our customers have been asking for this since the eSlick launch. We feel that this new eBookstore will enable all the eSlick consumers to read books from their favorite authors directly on the device without the need to purchase any additional hardware or software."

Foxit's eSlick is built on Foxit's PDF technology trusted by more than 100 million users worldwide. The device is already capable of reading TXT, PDF and ePub files. With the added support of the eReader format and the launch of this new eBookstore, consumers can now also read the documents and eBooks in the popular eReader format.

"Fictionwise is excited to be working with Foxit and to be powering their eBookstore," said Scott Pendergrast, CEO of Fictionwise, LLC, a Barnes & Noble Company. "They are true experts when it comes to enabling popular eBook formats, and that flexibility is one of the great features of the eSlick device."

About Foxit Foxit Corporation, a Microsoft Certified Partner, is at the forefront of cost-effective electronic document solutions. Customers of Foxit's award-winning products include major technology and healthcare companies; global financial services firms and government agencies. Founded in 2001, Foxit Corporation believes in innovative, standards-based technology and unrivalled customer support, with a deep commitment to sustainable, environmentally sound products and services.

About Fictionwise Fictionwise LLC was acquired by Barnes & Noble, Inc., earlier this year. Fictionwise runs several of the most popular ebook stores on the web, including its flagship websites at fictionwise.com and ereader.com. Established in June 2000, Fictionwise has sold millions of eBooks to hundreds of thousands of loyal customers worldwide. For more information, visit www.fictionwise.com.

[Rick James Posted Dec 9th 2009 11:45AM]

All these epub readers--makes me think Amazon will adopt it.

Great to see lots of readers on the market now. I just bought my gf the PRS-600...hopefully it wasn't a mistake.

[chancekang Posted Dec 9th 2009 12:23PM]

@Rick James
You'd better keep your receipt... The kindle 2 did not work so well on my gf.... sigh~~

[Rick James Posted Dec 9th 2009 12:32PM]

@chancekang I'm worried about the glare issue on the PRS-600. I tried it out in Best Buy before I ordered it through Amazon. She has told me in the past that she wants an ereader since she reads lots of books, however she said she would prefer one where she can write in the margins and highlight.

Why did your gf not want the kindle?

[Mentat Posted Dec 9th 2009 11:59AM]

I enjoy reading, but does the author get more money when I buy an E-book or a real book

[saturnblackhole Posted Dec 9th 2009 12:19PM]

@Mentat probably the same the big winners in the growth of ereaders is publishers because they dont have to pay to have the book manufactured and shipped.

[7egend Posted Dec 9th 2009 12:38PM]

@Mentat
It all evens out in the end. You really still have shipping charges cause instead of fuel and trucks, you have bandwidth and servers. It's a wash.

I'd rather have a physical book though, I think the experience is a bit more relaxing and you can get deeper into the story. The pause between page flips on ebook readers is really distracting. That's my opinion though.

[rchives Posted Dec 9th 2009 1:22PM]

@7egend As someone who hosts online servers I can tell you hosting costs aren't anywhere close to physical distribution costs. Not to mention retailers take the highest cut of anyone.

ebooks should cost half that of a physical book and publishers / authors would still make the same amount of money.

[Carld Posted Dec 9th 2009 1:42PM]

@Mentat

It depends, if it's published through traditional channels I think the royalty % is the same. If it's published through something like Amazon's DTP system the author keeps a LOT more from each book.

[Mentat Posted Dec 9th 2009 3:42PM]

Thank you for clarifying that for me its not that I have a ton of money to blow or anything but I want the authors to get paid for their work, I know in most cases it takes several months to a year in order to write a 1/2 decent book and I think most authors are underpaid.

[chancekang Posted Dec 9th 2009 12:18PM]

Bring it on! This market seriously needs much more competitions. Hopefully Foxit can release readers with larger screen. So far, the only ereader that is capable of flawlessly reading technical pdf files is from Irex 1000, which so far labeled at a ridiculously 800 dollars price.

[Streetfights Posted Dec 9th 2009 1:00PM]

Is the same people who make the foxit reader software? If so I'm excited for this. Foxit Reader destroys Adobe Reader in every way.

[scratchfury Posted Dec 9th 2009 3:18PM]

@Streetfights It is the same people. This has to be the first *GOOD* PDF reader on an E Ink device.