MediaFile

Penguin Group launched a set of tools for writers who want to self-publish their books in print and digital form, making it the first of the six largest publishing houses in the United States to roll out such an offering.

The Pearson-owned publisher introduced the self-publishing suite through its website Book Country, a site for genre fiction authors who specialize in romance, science fiction, mystery and thrillers and are looking for feedback from other writers.

Writers can choose among three different packages to publish their works: e-book form only, user formatted e-books and print books, or professionally formatted e-books and print books. Prices range from $149 $99 to $549.*

Penguin takes a cut of any sales.

“We want to be a really helpful and productive place… and do better in discoverability,” said Molly Barton, president of Book Country.

Book Country, which launched last April, has 4,000 members who have posted over 500 works and encourages the community to critique manuscripts. Publishing professionals and literary agents also use the site to scour for new talent. Penguin has committed to publishing Two writers, who were discovered on Book Country, were picked up by literary representation.*

We have out a piece which looks  at the hopes and ambitions of  traditional publishers of newspapers,  magazines and books  in the run-up to the unveiling of Apple’s  long-awaited iPad tablet device on Saturday. The consensus seems to be that the iPad will be a great boost for the industry.  Pictured above is the April issue of Interview magazine‘s version which will be available for 99 cents on launch day.

Here are a few more thoughts we couldn’t get into the  piece:

What does the iPad mean for Amazon’s Kindle?

Brian Murray, CEO Harper Collins:

“People love their Kindle but I think there’s room in the market for both a dedicated book reader like the Kindle, Sony Reader or (Barnes & Noble’s) Nook. But there’s room for a single device that can accommodate books, magazines, and newspapers and surfing the Internet like the iPad. My view is the price of the Kindle,Nook and Sony Reader is going to drop dramatically I suspect to under $100 so there will be a market for certain.”

John Makinson CEO Penguin Books:

“I don’t think there’s likely to be one dominant provider because the Kindle is a very competitive platform.”

What's a great holiday gift in a recession, yes a good old fashioned book. Random House just got its new Dan Brown bestseller on the shelves.

Pearson's Chief Financial Officer admitted that its consumer publisher Penguin does not have a blockbuster for the holiday season but -- in a rare glimpse of corporate honesty -- said it sure would like to have one.

" I think we've got some good books for Christmas," Pearson's Robin Freestone said at the Reuters Media Summit on the upcoming holiday shopping season.