HarperCollins has set up its first global eBook publishing programme under a newly formed imprint, PerfectBound.


The publisher has teamed up with digital content and on-demand print specialist Lightning Source to provide e-fulfilment services.


Each eBook will be published in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, in Gemstar, Microsoft Reader and Adobe Acrobat reader formats.


HarperCollins has promised to dedicate significant marketing resource to the launches. "We will not just digitise books and release them into cyberspace," said president and chief executive Jane Friedman.


Heading Harpers 15-strong launch list is Soul Mountain by Nobel Prize-winning author Gao Xingjian. Additional lists will be published bi-monthly.


Lightning Source chief operating officer Larry Brewster said the move was "another brick in the wall", which would help advance the uptake of eBooks.


He said that for the eBook to truly take off, content must be made available, "which is where something like this plays a significant part", the delivery infrastructure must be in place, and reader devices must be "user friendly".


The latter still needs work (devices have been criticised as being low-res and heavy), but Brewster was certain things would progress, "as sure as the cell phone has developed from a satchel bag to what it is today".


Lightning Sources UK on-demand print site in Milton Keynes will open in Q2. The firm already services UK publishers, such as Cambridge University Press, from the US.


Story by Lauretta Roberts