Borders® and BookBrewer Provide Bloggers with New Monetization Platform for Content

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Borders® today announced that it has teamed with BookBrewer to launch BORDERS – GET PUBLISHED™ Powered by BookBrewer. The co-branded publishing service empowers independent authors to publish and sell eBooks through the Borders eBook store, powered by Kobo, as well as other eBook retailers. BORDERS - GET PUBLISHED™ Powered by BookBrewer makes it seamless for any writer or blogger to format, display and sell their content across a number of technology platforms including a variety of tablets and eReading devices. The service will be available at borders.bookbrewer.com beginning Oct. 25.

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"We know many book lovers are also writers or aspiring authors who want to share their stories but do not want to invest the time and money to self publish in print," said Mike Edwards, CEO of Borders, Inc. "BORDERS – GET PUBLISHED™ Powered by BookBrewer offers the perfect solution — authors can quickly and easily load, format and publish content, which will then be available for sale within a few days on Borders.com and other major eBook outlets. We're excited to give new writers and bloggers an opportunity to reach an expanded audience as they make their foray into digital."

Users can develop and edit content regardless of length, set their own suggested price within bounds set by retailers, and publish via BookBrewer in the Borders' eBook store. Customers are provided with the option to purchase, download, and instantly read blogger and independent author content on several leading devices, including the iPhone®, iPad™, Android™-powered tablets as well as a variety of eReaders, notably the Kobo™ Wireless eReader, Kobo™ eReader, Aluratek Libre Pro and Velocity® Micro Cruz™ Reader. 

Creating an eBook can be done in a few simple steps using the intuitive BookBrewer tools. Authors can add content by typing or copying and pasting it into an online form, or they can feed in their content from an existing Web site or blog. With the click of a button, they can arrange and edit content as they wish. The content is saved as an ePub file — the format most eBook stores require to sell a book.

"Everyone has a story to tell, pictures to share or advice to give. It turns out that those are exactly the kinds of things people want to buy and read as eBooks," said BookBrewer CEO Dan Pacheco. "We're thrilled to have the opportunity to work with an iconic brand like Borders, which not only has an incredible customer base, but also has a great local community focus."

BORDERS – GET PUBLISHED™ Powered by BookBrewer gives authors a choice of two publishing packages: the $89.99 basic package and the $199.99 advanced publishing package. Under the basic package, BookBrewer will assign the book an ISBN (a $125 value), and will make it available to all major eBook stores at a price set by the writer.  Royalties will be based on sales and will vary with each retailer. Authors who choose the advanced package will receive a full version of their ePub file, which they will own and may share with friends, family or submit on their own to eBook stores.    

About BookBrewer

BookBrewer is a subsidiary of Boulder, Colo.-based startup FeedBrewer, Inc., which creates multi-platform publishing solutions for mobile devices. You can follow BookBrewer on Twitter at twitter.com/bookbrewer or on Facebook at facebook.com/bookbrewer, and experiment with its eBook publishing tools at bookbrewer.com. BookBrewer is a graduate of the Founder Institute (www.founderinstitute.com), a startup accelerator launching hundreds of companies per year in over 10 cities worldwide.

About Borders Group, Inc.

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., through its subsidiaries Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) is a leading specialty retailer of books as well as other educational and entertainment items. The company employs approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders® and Waldenbooks® stores. Online shopping is offered through borders.com. Find author interviews and vibrant discussions of the products we and our customers are passionate about online at facebook.com/borders, twitter.com/borders and youtube.com/bordersmedia. For more information about the company, visit borders.com/media.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. One can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "expected," "planning," "possibility," "opportunity," "goal," "will," "may," "intend," "anticipates," "working toward" and other words of similar meaning. One can also identify them by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements are likely to address matters such as the company's future financial condition and performance (including earnings per share, profitability, liquidity, cash flows, debt levels, market share growth and other sales information, inventory levels and capital expenditures), its cost reduction initiatives and plans for store closings, and the expansion of product categories, including eBook content and eReaders. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and plans to differ materially from those included in the company's forward-looking statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, consumer demand for the company's products, particularly during the holiday season, which is believed to be related to general economic and geopolitical conditions, competition and other factors; the availability of adequate capital--including vendor credit--to fund the company's operations and to carry out its strategic plans; adverse litigation results or other claims, the performance of the company's information technology systems, the anticipated impact of our Borders Rewards and Borders Rewards Plus programs; and, with respect to eBook content and eReaders, the availability to the company of anticipated content levels and a variety of competitive devices.

The company's periodic reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission contain more detailed discussions of these and other risk factors that could cause actual results and plans to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements, and those discussions are incorporated herein by reference. The company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Borders