During the convention, Simon & Schuster said it would convert an additional 5,000 titles to electronic format this year, more than doubling its number of electronic books and making available many of the best-selling books on the company's backlist of consistent sellers.
At the time of the purchase, Sterling had a backlist of 4,500 titles.
Amazon announced on Monday a further expansion to its publishing empire, acquiring the 3,000-book 3,000-bookf Avalon backlist
Barnes & Noble similarly unnerved publishers in 2002 when it acquired Sterling Publishing, which specialized in how-to and craft books and had a backlist of 4,500 titles.
Random House will also release e-book editions of the entire backlist of Mr. Updike's work, most of which has never appeared in e-book format.
Recently, several big American publishers have declared themselves eager to move their entire backlist of books into the digital sphere.
Anne Messitte, publisher of Vintage Español, publishes about eight new titles a year, plus a backlist of about 50 titles.
Universal is developing a new "Bride of Frankenstein" as part of a series of remakes from its backlist of horror movies.
Along the way, publishing well-received books has served as a high profile, if modestly profitable, way to support new artists while building a strong backlist of 40 titles.
It will include a few extras that have already been available to premium users, such as a 90-day backlist of people who have viewed your profile.
