Bookface.com puts free e-books online

While Web booksellers helped make 1999 a banner year for conventional book sales , at least one company believes e-books can succeed and is proving it by making them available online free of charge. Readers will have to put up with advertising on virtually every page but the company has 1000 titles from four publishers available for free online reading. In a related story, this year's Book Expo has witnessed an unprecedented interest in all things related to technology's impact on the book publishing industry.

To read more about the Bookface.com strategy, go to www.thestandard.com. To read about the Book Expo, read www.wired.com.