The CutlineElizabeth Taylor is the subject of Vanity Fair’s first-ever ebook
Vanity Fair, joining the growing number of media outlets publishing topical, standalone ebooks on the cheap and easy, will produce its first-ever ebook "possibly as early as tomorrow," the New York Post's Keith Kelly reports. The subject: Elizabeth Taylor, who died of congestive heart failure last week at the age of 79.
The title will be listed at $4.99 in Amazon's Kindle store and other platforms, and will compile previously published Vanity Fair articles (by Dominick Dunne, George Hamilton, and others) about the late Hollywood doyenne, with an introduction written by the magazine's editor-in-chief, Graydon Carter.
Kelly offers a teaser from Carter's piece: "How to explain Taylor to younger readers. For comparison's sake, there is really no one on today's screens who comes close. Try to imagine a star who combines the talent of a Meryl Streep with the beauty of Nicole Kidman, the sensuality of a Penélope Cruz, and the notoriety of a Lindsay Lohan (although in a much higher-class way, and without the public displays of private parts and vomiting). Magnify that a hundredfold, and you're still only halfway to Elizabeth Taylor."
The ebook market, which saw sales shoot up nearly 165 percent in 2010 to $441 million, according to the Association of American Publishers, holds an obvious appeal for newspapers and magazines in search of strategies for offsetting print advertising declines. Ebooks offer traditional media shops an enticing ancillary revenue stream -- and potentially bring new subscribers to the print products. Publishers also see the books as an opportunity to convince readers that long-form journalism is worth paying for, even when produced digitally.
(AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau)
