The highly-acclaimed Avant-Guide travel guidebook series, one of the fastest-growing series of city guides in the United States, is taking the unusual step of offering would-be customers the chance to download a selection of their most popular titles at no charge. It's a radical departure from the traditional publishing model, made possible through a partnership with WOWIO, a new online bookstore that has worked out how to monetize "free" books through targeted sponsorships.

While the revenue does not yet match the amount Avant-Guide makes in bookstore sales, the company is betting that the free ebooks will ultimately stimulate demand from traditional distribution channels by increasing awareness of their brand. "We are in a place where we are looking to increase our market share and WOWIO offers us a cost-effective way of reaching future customers," said Avant-Guide Executive Director Daniel Levine.

"Compelling content is key to our continued growth as the digital channel of choice for ebook distribution," said Dr. David B. Palumbo, CEO of WOWIO. "Our approach enables publishers to dramatically expand their readerships, monetize their digital assets, and drive print sales.

Packaged in Adobe.pdf format, the full-color and photo-intensive Avant-Guide books are completely faithful to the printed versions that sell in bookstores at $20 each, including fully-plotted maps and thorough indexes. The big question in the industry, of course, is whether giving away free ebooks will cannibalize traditional sales. Levine, among many others, thinks the answer is that it will not. "When people become familiar with the superiority of our books they will want to own others," he said, adding "Downloading digital media is the future. The music and film industries could learn a thing or two from the WOWIO model."

For its part, WOWIO includes three sponsorship pages - two in the front, and one in the back - and nothing more. It also watermarks the pages to hamper illegal distribution. Signing up for a WOWIO account requires that you authenticate your identity via a brief sign-up process, which helps protect its content from abuse. Because copyright laws vary by country, the free ebooks are available to U.S. residents only.

Avant-Guide travel guidebooks are available from WOWIO at http://www.wowio.com/.

About Avant-Guide

Covering a dozen of the world's most stylish urban areas - including New York, London, Paris and San Francisco - Avant-Guide is the authoritative source for the newest, most unique and most fashionable aspects of consumer culture. Avant-Guide books are available through Barnes & Noble and other bookstores worldwide. The Avant-Guide network of cultural omnivores are passionate about spotting emerging products and experiences long before they become fads; the strength and distinction of the Avant-Guide brand derives from its position not only as a trend-critic, but as a trend-maker and anointer of destinations, events, products and amenities that are on the forefront of contemporary culture.

About WOWIO(TM)

WOWIO, LLC, a privately owned company based in York, PA, debuted on the World Wide Web in August 2006 and endeavors to dramatically expand access to important written works by eliminating the economic, geographic, and logistical barriers of readers. WOWIO is today the only source where readers can legally download high-quality, copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. Readers have access to a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles.

Source: Avant-Guide

Web site:
http://www.wowio.com/
http://www.avantguide.com/