In a move which reflects the growing importance of the e-book market, St Ives-subsidiary Clays has teamed with FMG to develop its e-book offering and mark its mainstream arrival in the field.

Clays, which had previously provided e-book conversion "only on a relatively small scale" will now be able to offer mass conversion of publishers' back catalogues through its partnership with FMG.

Kate McFarlan, managing director at Clays, stressed that the ongoing development of the Bungay-based book printer's e-book offering was not in anticipation of a decline in its traditional business.

"We believe that the two will work in harmony," she said. "While e-books will grow in popularity as the devices become more affordable and easier to use, there is as yet little evidence that this is at the expense of sales of printed books."

Her comments came as Amazon confirmed the international launch of the Kindle DX, which will be available in 100 countries from 19 January, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, a show that was dominated by e-reader announcements.

FMG managing director Andy Berg said: "Industry analysts are predicting that consumers will get into e-book in a large way. Media Ideas forecast that global sales of e-readers will reach 446m units by 2020, up from 1.1m units in 2008.

"Book publishers want to be able to publish e-book. As we work with Clays to support our publishing clients, it is a natural con­tin­u­­ation of our relationship to provide e-book services."

FMG, which launched its eBook conversion service in earnest in December 2009, has already converted more than 100 books for one of the UK's largest publishers through its partnership with Clays.

Clays will now be offering FMG's file conversion services to its roster of publishing clients, including Bloomsbury, HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House.