News

New York, NY, April 26, 1999 ------- PubEasy.com™ the fast-growing global Internet ordering and inquiry service for booksellers and Tribal Voice™, a Silicon Valley Internet software company specializing in online communications and community-building software, today announced a cooperative agreement by which the two companies will collaborate to bring online chat, instant messaging, white boarding and group communications software to booksellers and the publishing industry globally.

Tribal Voice’s PowWow® software will be available for free download over the PubEasy.com service, allowing booksellers, publishers, distributors and wholesalers to set up their own industry-oriented communities of interest with communications tools that enable simultaneous conversations and Web-based discussions.

"At PubEasy.com, we have been busy building a business-to-business ecommerce community. There are now more than 1,000 booksellers and many publishers, distributors and a major wholesaler participating. Part of what we do is eliminate routine inquiries by smart use of the Web, but we recognize that often people need and want to have conversations. PowWow software will enable them to do that in a whole new way that builds on community interest and while they are using PubEasy.com. PowWow allows any bookseller, publisher, distributor or wholesaler to set up their own communities for communicating on any topic or subject they wish. Tribal Voice is the ideal partner for us to bring enhanced communications tools to our ecommerce service," said Peter F. Clifton, Chief Executive Officer of PubEasy.com.

PubEasy.com will deploy Tribal Voice’s PowWow software, which provides a complete solution for creating and hosting online communities. PowWow delivers a full suite of Internet communications tools, enabling anyone who downloads it to develop and host their own communities of interest and discussion.

More than four million worldwide users participate in over 10,000 Online Communities using PowWow software. These communities are used by diverse affinity groups ranging from individuals to organizations for purposes such as distance learning, company meetings, technical support, customer service and online events.

According to Tribal Voice CEO, Joseph J. Esposito, himself a former book publisher and former CEO of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "The topical issues of concern and interest within the Publishing industry are typically addressed in panel discussions at trade shows, articles in magazines and between interested parties on the telephone. Our software can facilitate such discussion in a more virtual and immediate way. There are countless communities of interest within the industry and these groups will find PowWow community-building software to be the perfect tool for connecting faster and more effectively overcoming geographic barriers. We look forward to working with PubEasy.com on this venture."

Plans for the launch of the new Web pages are being assembled and availability will be announced at http://www.pubeasy.com.

About PubEasy.com

PubEasy.com, the Internet inquiry and ordering service, is fast becoming the standard method of electronic commerce for the bookselling industry. More than 1,000 booksellers in the UK, North America, Europe, and Asia are regularly using the service for direct access to supplier’s title, price and availability information, to place orders and to check the status of their orders. Booksellers can directly access any participating Affiliate web site in the network or the Whitaker UK bibliographic database with 1.2 million books in print, via PubEasy.com. The service is free to booksellers and is available via the Internet 24 hours a day, 7-days a week.

Macmillan Distribution Ltd., Marston Book Services, Exel Logistics, Bookpoint and TBS/Grantham Book Services provided early support and endorsement of PubEasy.com. Participation from the industry continues to grow, with recent Affiliate sites launched by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. and Littlehampton Book Services. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Gardners Books and Penguin UK are scheduled to launch PubEasy.com web sites in Spring 99.

The service recently added its first US Affiliate, Broadman & Holman, trade publishing subsidiary of LifeWay Christian Resources. Other US Affiliate sites scheduled to launch include Von Holtzbrinck Publishing Services (Henry Holt, St. Martin's Press and Farrar Straus & Giroux), and National Book Network (the second largest US book distributor).

PubEasy.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of VISTA Computer Services.