The New York Times is experimenting with another source of revenue: digital books.
The newspaper said Wednesday it will publish its first e-book on Monday.
Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy will chronicle the story of last year’s WikiLeaks saga, in which the anti-secrecy group released U.S. State Department cables and other sensitive documents.
The Times was among five publications that reviewed the material with WikiLeaks before their release.
The Times’ new e-book will sell for $5.99 through Amazon.com Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc., Google Inc.’s eBook store and Apple Inc.’s iBookstore.
The Times, owned by The New York Times Co., has been looking to grow revenue in digital businesses to offset declines in print advertising. It will soon start charging readers who go over a certain monthly limit of free articles at its website.
Executive editor Bill Keller will write an essay on how the Times got involved with WikiLeaks and why it decided to publish the documents.
The e-book will contain essays from Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd. It will also include the full text of the documents that the Times has published on its website, along with 27 additional cables selected for the e-book.
