Publisher relents on ebooks

NEW YORK — The publisher of Stephen King, Bob Woodward and other top-selling authors has changed its policy of withholding ebooks from libraries.

Simon & Schuster has announced a one-year pilot program with three New York City library systems that cover the city’s five boroughs. Simon & Schuster had been the last of the “Big Six” publishers to keep its entire e-catalogue off-limits to libraries. Publishers have worried that free library downloads could lead to lost sales, while libraries have advocated for the largest possible selection.

“We’ve been having conversations with libraries for a long time, trying to come up with something that we felt would work for us. And I think we finally found the key pieces,” Simon & Schuster president and CEO Carolyn Reidy said Monday.

One key piece: Allowing patrons to buy copies of a given book, with some of the proceeds going to the library.

Reidy said any Simon & Schuster release, old or new, that’s available commercially as an ebook will be offered to libraries.