SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.--Aug. 29, 2001--Texterity, Inc., a leading provider of electronic publishing services, today announced TextCafe eBook Logistics Service. The new service expands on the core functionality of TextCafe to provide automated conversion of Open eBook format files into multiple eBook formats and automatically distribute the resulting eBook files to electronic retailers. Major customers using the service include iPublish.com at Time Warner Books and Penguin Putnam. TextCafe already provides automated, volume conversion for books that need to be moved into structured XML and Open eBook format. The new Logistics Service adds metadata management, workflow tracking, and eBook distribution. This enables publishers to fully outsource their eBook production function. The service supports all major eBook formats including Microsoft Reader, Adobe eBook, Palm/Peanut Reader, Gemstar REB-1100 and REB-1200, netLibrary, and MobiPocket. TextCafe Logistics service automates distribution of final, sale-ready eBooks to distributors including Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, Gemstar, Glassbook, Lightning Source, MightyWords, Overdrive, Palm, and Reciprocal. With the TextCafe Logistics Service, publishers get an end-to-end, standards-based solution with "retail ready'' eBooks completed in a fraction of the time as compared to traditional methods. "Texterity now has a much stronger story for serving publishers in the e-book arena. At the same time, they're playing a key role for the industry by defining the complete suite of services that commercial publishers need to help get their e-book programs off the ground,'' said Mark Walter, an e-book analyst for Seybold Publications and senior editor of The Seybold Report. TextCafe Logistics Service handles each step of eBook production: * Submission - Files are collected from the web or via FTP, with conversion of Word or Quark files into PDF (if required), file logging, metadata file parsing, and acknowledgment sent to the publisher * Conversion - Pre-process evaluation includes file segmentation and zoning, core conversion, and OEB normalization * Quality control - Tool-based confirmation of hyphenation, page breaks, head levels, note and index linking, along with semantic feature markup * Creation - Automated conversion of TextCafe OEB into Microsoft Reader, Palm Reader, Gemstar Rocket/Softbook, MobiPocket, HTML, and netLibrary OEB * Delivery - Final delivery of required files with metadata to all major electronic retailers and distributors "TextCafe Logistics Service is a logical extension of our automated conversion service,'' said Martin Hensel, President of Texterity. "Our customers benefit from our experience across multiple eBook formats and in dealing with the increasing number of distribution channels. We believe that our approach provides a high ROI to publishers who have learned that managing the myriad requirements of the eBook market is costly in time and personnel, and allows them to focus on their core publishing business.''