BN Offers Pre-Orders for Open Secrets-Wikileaks

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Jan 24 – Jan 30, 2011 Edition BN Offers Pre-Orders for Open Secrets-Wikileaks

New York, New York/Authorlink News/January 27, 2011–Barnes & Noble, Inc. has announced that it is the only company taking pre-orders for Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy, the highly anticipated new digital title from The New York Times. Made available using PubIt!, Barnes & Noble’s digital publishing platform, customers can pre-order the title at www.NOOKbookstore.com or on NOOKcolor(TM), NOOK(TM) eReaders and NOOK software-enabled devices for $5.99 and be among the first to download it later this week. The company will also offer NOOK device customers access to exclusive additional content from The Times only available for download in Barnes & Noble bookstores.

Last year, the anti-secrecy organization known as WikiLeaks made headlines around the world when it released thousands of classified U.S. government diplomatic cables and battlefield reports. The New York Times played a crucial role in breaking the WikiLeaks story, and Open Secrets is the definitive chronicle of the documents’ release and the controversy that ensued. To quickly give interested readers the opportunity to dive into the new book, The New York Times is publishing Open Secrets as a digital-only title and making it available to Barnes & Noble customers using the easy-to-use PubIt! digital publishing platform for independent and self-publishers (www.PubIt.com).

Through the popular More In Store(TM) program, Barnes & Noble is providing NOOKcolor and NOOK device users access to exclusive additional content from The New York Times, not included in Open Secrets or available anywhere else. Customers can read a thrilling Q&A between Alexander Star, Open Secrets editor and a senior editor at The New York Times, and Eric Schmitt, a senior reporter on terrorism and national security at The Times, who had the most face-to-face contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as the controversy unfolded. The exclusive content will be available later this week. To access, customers can simply connect their NOOKcolor, NOOK 3G(TM) or NOOK Wi-Fi® device to the fast and free Wi-Fi available in Barnes & Noble stores.

“We’re working closely with The New York Times to quickly bring this fascinating and timely new digital-only book to Barnes & Noble customers later this week using our PubIt! digital publishing platform,” said Liz Scheier, Editorial Director, Digital Content for Barnes & Noble.com. “We’re excited to be the first to offer Open Secrets for pre-order, and the only company delivering an exclusive bonus interview from The Times about WikiLeaks to NOOK device customers in Barnes & Noble bookstores.”

When Open Secrets is published later this week, NOOKcolor and NOOK device owners can also access the NOOKbook for no cost in any Barnes & Noble store through the company’s innovative Read In Store(TM) program. The complete contents of Open Secrets, all PubIt! titles and millions of others can be browsed at no cost for one hour each day when a NOOKcolor or NOOK device is connected to the fast and free Wi-Fi in a Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Given that all PubIt! titles are lendable, customers who purchase Open Secrets can also use Barnes & Noble’s breakthrough LendMe(TM) technology to share the book once with any friend for up to 14 days.

Open Secrets includes detailed analyses of the WikiLeaks documents by Times correspondents; opinion essays by Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and others; and the full text of all the cables and war logs posted on The Times’ website, along with nearly 30 new cables selected for this volume. It also includes an essay in which Bill Keller, executive editor of The Times, explains how and why the newspaper came to publish documents obtained by WikiLeaks; expanded profiles of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks’ founder, and Bradley Manning, the Army private suspected of being his source; and original essays on what the fracas has revealed about American diplomacy and government secrecy. A legal and technological thriller and a primer on world politics, Open Secrets is also a field guide to how information and power are wielded today, and why it matters.