IDW goes for iPublishCentral

IDW Publishing, now the fourth largest comic book publisher in the US, has announced it's selected iPublishCentral, a self-service e-content platform from Impelsys, to help broaden its e-publishing strategy. Using iPublishCentral, IDW plans to digitize 25 issues from its classic Transformers series, and use the iPublishCentral tool suite to market and sell the content online.

Under the agreement, IDW will utilize the full iPublishCentral tool suite, including ViewInside and iPublishWidget, viral marketing tools that help publishers promote their brand and market books on the internet. As with online eBook services like MyEBook.com, ViewInside enables readers to browse pages from a book or a comic series before they decide to buy, allowing prospective customers to sample an issue of a comic book series.

"E-publishing is a great way to make our comics more accessible to a new audience, enticing them to eventually try the print versions," said Ted Adams, CEO of IDW. "iPublishCentral's self-service model has an elegant, easy-to-use approach to digitizing content and engaging our online community. We're looking forward to the opportunity to experiment with iPublishCentral's suite."

In addition to ViewInside, the iPublishCentral suite includes iPublishWidget, which enables readers and authors to participate in spreading information about a title of their interest on social profile pages like Facebook and MySpace. Readers and authors can also easily add book widgets to their personal blogs. This viral marketing tool enhances visibility, sustains interest and enables sales conversions for any title.

"iPublishCentral is the perfect solution for publishers such as IDW which heavily rely on print sales of comic books, but which also want to sync print publishing with e-publishing in order to attract new customers," said Sameer Shariff, CEO of Impelsys. "With iPubishCentral's sampling and viral marketing tools, IDW is able to expand its reach to audiences online, innovating along with their tech-forward audience, all without altering the authenticity of their titles."

iPublishCentral enables publishers of any size to digitize their content for sale online and promote their brands and titles across the Web through strategic viral marketing. Publishers can sign up for iPublishCentral's basic, no-cost package to access standard features and functionalities, drastically reducing the cost and risk of initiating an e-publishing strategy.

• For more information visit www.ipublishcentral.com