Publishing e‐books: OECD's pay‐per‐view and e‐library services 1998–2003

The OECD's experience in transforming its stagnating book publishing business using the e‐book is described. OECD used e‐books first as a pay‐per‐view system within an online bookshop (1998). It then rejected e‐book aggregators and introduced an online library on a subscription basis (2001). OECD has moved from being a traditional print book publisher to being an online e‐book publisher, supported by print where necessary. It is now developing an e‐book account service inside its online bookshop and has the flexibility to publish a broader range of books to a wider audience than was previously possible.