Journalism.co.uk has an article discussing how newspapers and magazines are finding that they can mine their existing catalog of material to produce longer-form works they can sell as e-books. One in six Londoners are estimated to own an e-reader of some kind, and a number of UK and other publications are taking advantage of this.

Catalonian paper La Vanguardia has published 100 e-book titles since November, 2011—mostly fiction. UK newspaper The Guardian has published 20 e-books since August 2011 under the Guardian Shorts brand. Hearst Magazines’s Cosmopolitan has released a number of e-books as well.

"Ebook publishing is a natural brand extension as people buy tablets and e-readers," says [Hearst’s group director of books Emma] Dally. "Cosmo has always had a book publishing programme and in the future this will be digital." Pointing out the "minimal risks" of e-book publishing, Dally says it will be "easier" for Cosmopolitan to publish its own material than to partner with an external publisher.

We’ve reported on this before, of course, when the New York Times and other American institutions (such as NBC) were doing it. But it is now an international practice.

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