April 4, 2005 -- Leading online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. today announced it has acquired BookSurge LLC, a global leader in inventory-free book printing and fulfillment, based in Charleston, South Carolina.  BookSurge maintains a catalog of thousands of titles that can be printed on-demand and are available for sale on Amazon.com.  BookSurge offers its inventory-free book fulfillment network to publishers through BookSurge Publisher Services and to authors through BookSurge Publishing. In addition, retailers, wholesalers and distributors can leverage the BookSurge Direct wholesale platform. “Print-on-demand has changed the economics of small-quantity printing, making it possible for books with low and uncertain demand to be profitably produced,” said Greg Greeley, vice president of media products for Amazon.com. “BookSurge makes it possible to print books that appeal to targeted audiences, whether it’s one copy or one thousand. Our new relationship with BookSurge will provide Amazon customers an ever-expanding selection of titles that are not available through other channels.  Thanks to print-on-demand, “out of print” is out of date.” Some examples of the variety of titles available on demand through BookSurge include foreign-language books such as the Arabic-language version of the international bestseller The Da Vinci Code and Perez and Martina: A Puerto Rican Folktale, by celebrated Latina librarian Pura Belpre. In addition, BookSurge offers selections from New York Times bestselling author Robert Morgan as well as popular non-fiction works, including books produced by the Museum of Modern Art. Robert Holt, BookSurge’s chief executive officer, said, “BookSurge is dedicated to creating better opportunities for authors and publishers, and our new relationship with Amazon.com will allow us to do just that. We are delighted to become a part of the Amazon family and look forward to helping even more publishers and authors find a profitable outlet for their books.” Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.