WO2008140418A1

WO2008140418A1 - Electronic on-demand publishing method

Info

Publication number: WO2008140418A1
Application number: PCT/SG2008/000173
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tat-Leong Sweeting
Original assignee: The Virtual Publishing Company Limited
Priority date: 2007-05-10
Filing date: 2008-05-09
Publication date: 2008-11-20

Abstract

The present invention provides an electronic publishing method to provide a combination of content on demand by readers and/or publishers and advertisements on demand by advertisers and/or publishers into the form of a multi-page electronic publication in the form of an e-book in real time. The method includes organising source files of content and/or advertising and allows the application of templates to produce a multiple page document. This document may then be compiled into an e-book with a page transition effect such as a page-turn. Users may request information online for viewing online and/or immediate retrieval of use a standing order to receive a specific subset of information at intervals such as receiving only specific portions of a daily newspaper. The content is sourced together with advertising that is relevant either to the subject matter of the content or parameters of the user such as location, interests, or corresponding to the requests of advertisers, etc. The editorial, listing and/or data content and advertising may be automatically compiled into an e-book with software to provide a user interface or in a format suitable for use with existing reader software of the user. The publication is displayed for reading online and/or forwarded to the user and any one or more of the circulation, readership, pass-on rate, page-view and the click on rate, action click on rate of the advertisement may be tracked for electronic publication auditing purposes and future advertising sales and publishing purposes.

Description

ELECTRONIC ON-DEMAND PUBLISHING METHOD

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method of publishing, including automating, the production process of an electronic publication containing content on-demand and, in particular, although not necessarily solely, to allow for the personalisation of individual publications with relevant advertising.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

The introduction of computers, the World Wide Web and internet have led to the production of large quantities of information in electronic digital formats.

A large portion of this information is now available on the Internet in the form of web pages, generally provided in .html format. It has been recognised that .html as a format has some limitations. Web pages are not multi-page documents. They generally comprise a single page accessible at a time with further pages only accessed through further download while online.

One of the limitations from information provided on web pages is the lack of static content accessible for historical value. A typical online newspaper is generally accessed through its homepage address on the Internet and the content sourced is the latest news available. The content that shows at a single Internet address changes as the page linked to that address is refreshed, updated or changed. Although this is useful for access to current content, it is less useful for accessing historical content. This is in contrast to print

IWADAV .. \Q2533660.doc j publications where the content is provided in a unique publication each day and may be easily archived and kept. On the Internet, most of the content is interminably linked to the address where it is sourced making retention of historical content much more difficult.

A further difficulty with .html coded web pages is that the content layout is not consistent for all readers reading from different computers. Generally web pages do not present content on a full-page view consistently in all computer screens. It varies from computer browser to browser and resolution to resolution. A web page viewed from a computer of an average resolution of 800 x 600 pixels is different from a web page viewed from a computer that has a resolution setting of 1280 x 768 pixels. The use of scroll bars in a browser does not guarantee that any advertising further down the page is actually viewed. This makes it more difficult to sell advertising in that space and also limits the work an editor can do to give an overall page appearance as they would in the layout of a magazine or newspaper page.

The default mechanism of the page by page download of web pages also restricts the possibilities of conventional display advertisements such as full page ads, half page ads, quarter page ads, etc on web format as it is provided today.

Despite the various problems, the electronic medium does provide advantages in providing content on demand as requested by a reader or user of a computer accessing the Internet. Current content on demand is provided on Internet search engines allowing a user to use terms to search for information and compile the results of that information into a list of further sites on which the information may reside. However, such systems are not individual publications containing the content in which advertising can be provided directly to the reader in association with the content itself. Although search engines do provide advertising on or around the list of search results, the information that the reader spends significant time reading is usually residing on a different site with its own advertising. The search site itself in the form of a publication does not provide the actual content being sought by the user.

Electronic books or e-books provide an alternative electronic publishing format that can address some of the limitations of .html format and provides a multi-page publication that can be retained as a product or entity in itself rather than just a web address. However, current e-books require individual preparation and layout of each page and manual production. Hence they cannot be produced in response to immediate requests for content. The content available in e-books, like their print counterparts, comprises such information as a publisher may decide will appeal to a mass audience to justify the production time and costs. As such, current e-books are a digital equivalent of the conventional print publications in terms of layout, but without the content on-demand or inclusion of dynamically selected advertising that other electronic media may provide.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic publishing method that overcomes some of these disadvantages and, in particular, automating much of the process for the provision of content on demand and providing this content in the form of electronic publications. At a minimum, the invention seeks to provide a publishing method that provides the public with a useful choice. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, in a first aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in a method of publishing an electronic publication in an automated method comprising: electronically processing a request for content to determine parameters of the content desired;

- selecting content from a content database based on said parameters of content desired; - processing said selected content to form a multiple page electronic document; outputting said electronic document to a compiler;

- compiling said electronic document into an electronic book; and making said electronic book available for viewing online, distribution or use.

Accordingly, in a second aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in an electronic publishing method including the steps of:

- providing a user with access to make an request for a subset of information from a larger source of information;

- sourcing said subset of information and selecting relevant advertising; - compiling said subset of information and said advertising into an electronic book; and

- making said electronic book available to said user in electronic form. Accordingly, in a third aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in an electronic publishing method including the steps of:

- receiving a request from a user for editorial content in electronic form;

- sourcing said requested editorial content; - sourcing advertising content;

- compiling said editorial and/or advertising content into an electronic book;

- forwarding said electronic book in accordance with said request; and

- tracking usage of the compiler and/or the advertising for revenue purposes.

Accordingly, in a fourth aspect, the invention may broadly be said to consist in an electronic publication production means comprising: a processor for electronically processing a request for content to determine parameters of the content desired;

- selection means for selecting content from a content database based on said parameters of content desired;

- a processor for processing said selected content to form a multiple page electronic document;

- output means for outputting said electronic document to a compiler;

- a compiler for compiling said electronic document into an electronic book; and - output means for making said electronic book available for online viewing and/or distribution or use. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the following drawing in which: - Fig. 1 shows a schematic view of a publication in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

- Fig. 2 shows a schematic view of portions of a system to implement the on demand method of this invention;

- Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a typical set of processes performed in performance of one embodiment method of this invention;

- Fig. 4 shows a schematic of a method in accordance with one embodiment of the publishing method;

- Fig. 5 shows a schematic view of the process of an embodiment of the invention; and - Fig. 6 shows an example of a template for an electronic document in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention relates to an electronic publishing method that seeks to produce electronic publications in real time including content on-demand, preferably both editorial and advertisements on-demand. In this context, on-demand means responsive to a substantially instantaneous request.

Although many different electronic documents may be considered to be "published", the term electronic publication in this context refers to a multi-page document published by means of a single file transmission or download, generally with some form of page transition effect to emulate a book or magazine. Such publication are generally referred to as electronic books or e-books. The particular form of page transition is less critical, however, a page turn such as that represented in Fig. 1 is preferred. It can be seen that the publication 101 is fully in view with subsequent pages accessed though any suitable command such as clicking on a page 102 to generate an animation sequence that turns the page 102 to present the next full page 103 for view.

The term 'publishing' in this context refers to the production of an electronic multi- page publication that consists of editorial or listing content as well as advertisement and/or sponsorship content for the distribution (via CD's or emails) and display (on the web or other display device, mobile reading devices, billboard, plasma TV's, etc) to reach a targeted audience. The publication may also be provided on websites or portals for download. Preferably, the electronic publication should also provide a full-page view within the screen parameters of any personal computer using any settings. This may allow an editor or publisher to design a page for eye appeal in its entirety without concerns that much of the content on each page will be hidden from view and require the use of a scroll bar to be viewed. This preserves the integrity of design of the electronic publications of its editorial content and advertisements. It provides the 'guarantee' to advertisers and sponsors that all readers view their ads and sponsorship messages in full in the best resolution independent of the computer type and settings.

Additionally, it allows publishers to charge advertisers and sponsors a full range of advertisement charges similar to print publications with conventional display advertisement real estate within the electronic publications.

Although a publication can comprise many forms, this invention is directed towards the provision of an electronic publication that is provided as an independent file rather than a dynamic web based site. A website has its own document linked to the Internet address accessed. Usually, such a document is held on a host computer for the web site operator. As such, any change to that document changes the nature of the publication. In the present invention, it is desired to provide a publication in the form of a file that may be sent by email, downloaded, displayed online or offline, sent in the form of CDs, or otherwise transmitted to the reader. Once received, the file is no longer changeable by the publisher and hence is able to be stored and retained by the reader for use at a future date.

As such, a publication in the present invention is similar to magazines and newspapers that are currently produced in hardcopy. Although many such publications may also provide an Internet version on the worldwide web, this typically only allows access to current stories with perhaps an archive access to some older articles. However, they do not usually provide any form of publication that can be kept such that the news of a particular date can be viewed in the form it was presented at the time.

Reference is also made throughout the description to "content". Content may form any type of presentation to the reader being both editorial content such as news or articles, editorial reports, analysis, write ups, or advertising content and may be in text, image, graphic, audio, video or other multi media formats as desired. Generally each page of a publication will contain a variety of forms of content with at least the main editorial content and some advertising being carried on each page.

The publication when presented to the reader may be in numerous formats capable of providing a multi page document. The preference is a format that provides a user interface such as used in the electronic publications incorporating page-turns produced in accordance with US patent application No. 10/892,396. This user interface can be provided using an .exe format or a proprietary .vp format. However, alternative formats such as .pdf, flash and other proprietary formats may be used, especially if adapted in accordance with this invention to provide a full page view within the typical computer screen parameters.

A particular embodiment of the on-demand method may be implemented by the hardware shown schematically in Fig. 2. A user desiring a publication of particular content may make a request electronically, preferably using the Internet or other communication mechanism. It should be noted that the invention is not restricted to the Internet as other data communication channels such as the mobile phone network, postage, fax or telephone networks generally can provide the same sort of communication service.

hi the embodiment of Fig 2., the user accesses the Internet using a personal computer 2 or web phone service and, for example, proceed to the website of a publisher having content on demand. The user requests the particular content from a content menu provided by the publisher which may form a specific request, such as a particular article, or a more generic request such as "today's local news", etc. The request is received by the computer 3 of the publisher and the request is analysed to determine the information requested as well as devising parameters to match any advertising that may be pre-placed upon requests from advertisers and included in the publication provided back to the user.

The analysis of the information or editorial content requested may include its subject matter, the type of media (i.e. text, image or audio/video, etc) and the request may also be analysed in terms of the user. The analysis to determine some parameters allows targeted advertising rather than generic advertisements to be displayed for all those that may access the website. It is already known that various parameters may be determined that are user specific. For example, on any website that requires the user to login, historical information on data choices may be retained or the user may have specifically completed a form detailing their interests. In some cases an indication of the location of the user can be determined by the IP address of the request. The website may have implanted cookies onto the users computer to determine more information also. All of these existing avenues may be utilised to compile parameters about the user. The publisher may then request the editorial, listing and/or data content desired by the user from a database 4 holding, presumably, a much larger amount of data than just that requested. It is to be noted that although this embodiment suggests the data content is under the publishers power and control on a single database, this may equally involve accessing data and content from many databases, whether or not they are under the direct control or ownership of the publisher. In the same manner that a search engine accesses many websites to compile a list of relevant documents found, the publishers' computer may also access many documents from other sources in electronic form for use in a compiled publication.

In tandem to obtaining the data, listing or other editorial content, the parameters for the advertising content may be sent to a database 5 of advertising to allow the selection of advertising relevant to the user or related to the content being requested, or both.

The editorial content and advertising content may then be sent to a compiler 6 to produce a multi-page publication containing the editorial content and such advertising as the publisher has determined is suitable for their particular form of publication. The publication may then be displayed for online viewing and/or forwarded to the reader as a final part of an automatic process occurring in real time. Of course, this need not be the case and the publication may be delivered through an alternative mechanism if desired. For example, a user may request a publication using a mobile device yet prefer the published document to be sent via email to their personal computer for easier reading even though the publication is produced and compiled in real time and sent out through a different channel from that through which the request was received. The publisher's computer 3 and the compiler 6 are shown as separate items in Fig. 2. Of course, both tasks may be performed by the same processor and the drawing is intended to demonstrate the logical flow of the items rather than the identity of the actual components. The databases 4 and 5 may also reside on the same hardware as either or both of the publishers' computer 3 and the compiler 6.

The general publication model being described deals with content on demand. Such content may be demanded in different manners and an example is given in Fig. 3. In the example in Fig 3, the reader requests specific content 21 for substantially immediate supply. Upon the request being analysed at step 22, the content may be sourced 23 and the relevant advertising may be sourced 24. These may be combined in the compiling step 25 and distributed at step 26 to the user.

In a contrasting system, the request may consist of a standing order for, for example, a daily newspaper carrying specific information in terms of content whether this be by subject matter, headlines only, etc. In the case of such a standing order, the publication may still be individualised and sent "on demand" albeit that the request is preset. The initial request is analysed in terms of its parameters and the timetable for supply set in the case of a regular publication. Upon reaching the appropriate time for publication, the publication cycle may commence to respond to the standing order. It is also possible to compile a single publication for each user with user specific advertising at this point also.

A data backend system that may be used in this overall process requires the use of a digital content management system to allow content and advertising files to be seamlessly incorporated together in accordance with pre-set parameters. These parameters may include relationships between the data files and the advertising files in terms of subject matter, files sizes to aggregate suitable full page sizes and layout parameters to maintain the look and feel of a specific publication rather than have this become lost in a generic scene of publications, size of ads and frequency and exact campaign period when ads appear based on advertisers' requests.

Referring to Fig. 4, the data backend can be seen to incorporate various databases for reader profiles 125, editorial content 122 ( including listing or other such data) and advertisements 124. The data backend may be connected to a workflow engine 132 being the software to control the retrieval of appropriate content including advertising in response to a reader request and, preferably, in line with the particular readers profile.

An example of the use of such a digital content management system is the Real Media Cockpit. Of course, many publishers wishing to use such an on-demand system may have their own or other content management solutions already and equivalent content management solutions are readily available in the marketplace.

The digital data content files may be structured by their content and purpose. It should be noted that in this manner, the advertising media files may undergo the same process as data content of specific interest such as articles etc.

Many existing publishers may have their own digital content management solutions and these may be adapted as necessary to suit the on-demand publishing solution. Once the content is determined, it may be output in a common format such as .xml and passed through the workflow engine 132 to a composer 123 allowing automated editing and output a format suitable for compilation into an electronic publication.

In the simplest form, the content may already be stored in .xml on the server and merely require items to be fitted into a template holding all the pre-determined layout information. This may be passed for compilation directly.

In alternative systems, content may be held in different forms and may even comprise licensed data snipplets from external sources 131 and converted in real time into a format such as .xml. This may be necessary where sources of information come form external links and cannot be pre-converted.

In the process shown in Fig. 4, basic content itself or at least the parameters and source of that content may be ingested by a data backend to allow easy retrieval in response to the parameters set by the various search requests.

A publication may be composed on the initiative of a publisher for a particular group or individual or on the initiative of a reader 129. Suitable content may be sourced from the databases 122 and 124 and may be adapted or selected in accordance with a particular readers profile as stored in a further database 125.

The content may then be compiled into a publication by a compiler 126 to form into a multi-page electronic publication and accessed by a reader through a portal being a website 127 or distributed through other means such as email, download, read online, etc. In the preferred form, the system will include a tracking system 130 to track the readership of the publication and/or usage of the advertisements. The information gained from this tracking may be used in the readers' profile to tailor make subsequent publications if desired.

The data backend may have its content managed via web forms or other convenient access to the data by a content manager 120 working through a connected terminal running suitable management software 121.

Fig. 6 shows two typical templates for use in electronic publications in applying content to the preparation of electronic publications. The templates 131 and 132 may provide different areas and sizes of area for text articles, advertisements, images to accompany the text, headers, etc. It will be appreciated that a large number of templates may be designed for different types of publications and proprietary publications that will have their own requirements. These templates are merely exemplary of the manner in which such templates may be designed. These templates may be applied by the composer in automating the layout of the information onto suitable pages for compilation of the e-book.

A schematic of the processes involved from the viewpoint of the publisher is shown in Fig 5. In this embodiment, the publisher may hold a combined database 11 of data content and advertising content, structured and organised suitably for on-demand selection in response to a readers request. The data, particularly text data and other editorial content such as articles, may be catagorised by size in terms of standard pages or sub page components. Advertising may be similarly structured to allow the fitting of advertising into pre-determined locations in the publication. For example, editorial content in the form of a journalists article may be one and a quarter pages in length. The database may use the size of the article to further specify advertising content by attributing, for example, three quarters of a page for advertising. This may not be provided as a single block but perhaps a quarter page advertisement on a first page and a half page advertisement with half a page of editorial content on the second page. Hence two pages of the eventual publication may be assembled in accordance with pre-determined placement criteria.

It is possible for the publishers to be more than simply a passive receiver of requests also. Publishers may receive subscription requests for personalised publications from readers who specifically demand for the content they like to read, when they like the content to be compiled and where to send the compiled electronic publications i.e. an email address, etc. Additionally, publishers may have a 'content menu' listing the type of content available for selection and demand by readers visiting their sites. The database system 11 may be associated with a web presence to advertise the content available and allow the reader to select the content they wish. Targeted advertising may be automatically matched and selected to accompany the editorial content.

It should be noted that digital data content may be stored in many different file formats. In the preferred form, for simplicity, the content would be held on the publishers own servers to ensure reliable access to the data and would be held in a common format such as .xml formats although many others may also exist.

It is intended in the preferred form of this invention to provide the content in a consistent manner in a compiled publication and may use an alternative format such as a format used by Virtual Publishing Limited in the provision of multi-page publications described generally in US patent application serial number 10/892,396 by Hemmings. The content of that patent application specification is hereby incorporated by reference.

In such a case where the publishing format is not the same as those of the data or advertising content, the selected files may progress through suitable converters 12 to achieve the desired format for compilation.

The publication may then be compiler at step 14 into a multi page format. The intention of providing the publication in multiple page-turn format is to avoid the use of scroll bars in the viewing of the information on a typical computer screen or whichever screen the document is being viewed upon. Most importantly, a multiple page-turn format provides conventional display advertising real estate in the electronic publications for publishers to generate revenue. As described in the Hemmings patent specification, there is a preference to provide the page to the viewer in the manner in which it is intended to be seen by the publisher in setting their parameters for page layout. Although the file type described in the Hemmings specification is ideally suited to such purposes, other formats may also be used. For example, .pdf files viewed by Adobe Acrobat are also multi-page files that allow transition from one page to another and although a typical page is not viewable as a single entity when the page setting is for an A4 or letter size page, these settings may be set to allow an entire page laid out to the publishers specification to be viewed within the open window of at least a full screen view at normal resolution. Once compiled the document or publication may be forwarded, displayed, viewed and read online or distributed 15 to the reader. The reader in this instance may be more than just a single reader by a target audience in some cases. In the case of a daily newspaper, limited selection of data content may be available. This may involve simply selection of those sub sections of newspaper of interest to the reader. This may allow the newspaper to target advertisements according to parameters of those sections alone. For example local news sections may carry only local advertisements, a fashion section only fashion advertisements, etc. As there are likely to be large common groups of readers requesting identical selections, it may be preferred not to target advertising to the user specific level and publish an identical publication to the group that forms the target audience in such a case. Alternatively the target audience could be a single user.

Existing techniques in the provision and use of electronic publications also allow some tracking of specific usage of advertising subject to privacy laws in individual jurisdictions. The tracking of viewership 20 may comprise, in the simplest form, a count of the number of publications downloaded, viewed online, forwarded, or distributed carrying a particular advertisement. However, when the publication is in electronic form and may include hyperlinks to advertisers sites etc, further tracking can be included to track access of that site from the publication through a feedback mechanism when the reader is online or offline.

Alternative tracking mechanisms include being able to track documents in terms of the number of times the document is opened (read) or by determining whether or not it is forwarded to another party. Again such mechanisms are already available in the market and may be incorporated into the final publication. Hence it has been shown that the present invention can allow the compilation of publications being stand alone files downloadable or transmittable by email that provide a multi-page publication whereby each page may viewed in its entirety. This allows a publisher to utilise proprietary style formats to allow the provision of content on demand while maintaining their own publishing standards in terms of layout, incorporation of advertising and content.

The use of digital media content allows further separation and specialisation in the publishing industry if desired. For example, the content may be owned and held by a party other than the publisher and the owner may merely grant usage rights to a publisher.

Advertising may now be laid out in such publications in accordance with requests from advertisers as well as from a publisher's pre-set criteria allowing electronic publications to approach the print counterparts in terms of percentage of advertising per page provided a suitable page viewable format for the publication is utilised.

The addition of using relationships among the publisher, the content provider, content creator and the advertiser allows for greater targeting of advertising than print publications.

The limitations of existing electronic publications in the form of website based publications are avoided in the provision of a compiled stand alone publication that does not need to utilise HTML or other formats in which the page view may be changed by different screen resolutions leading to the loss of viewability of specific advertisements. This invention has been described by means of preferred embodiments that should not be considered limiting to the generality of the description itself. Specific integers referred to throughout the description are deemed to include known equivalents where appropriate.

Claims

1. A method of publishing an electronic publication in an automated method comprising: - electronically processing a request for content to determine parameters of the content desired;

- selecting content from a content database based on said parameters of content desired; processing said selected content to form a multiple page electronic document; - outputting said electronic document to a compiler;

2. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said content includes editorial listing or data content.

3. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said content includes advertising content.

4. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 3 wherein said advertising content size, frequency and position of placement are requested by advertisers.

5. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 3 wherein said advertising content is selected from an advertising database.

6. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 5 wherein said advertising content is placed in said advertising content database upon requests of advertisers together with the advertisers parameters on advertisement sizes, frequency of placement, position of placement within said electronic publications and said advertising content should be included

7. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 3 wherein said content includes both editorial and advertising content.

8. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 3 wherein said request is further processed for parameters of an intended reader.

9. A method of publishing an electronic publication in claim 8 wherein said advertising content is selected based on one or more of relevance to the editorial content type, parameters of an intended reader.

10. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 3 wherein said method further includes a step of tracking of the downloads, readership, circulations, pass-on rate, page viewership and pass-on targets and/or viewership, click on rate and action per click of advertising content.

11. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step of processing said selected content includes applying at least one page template to said content to set parameters for the size and/or location of content on said page.

12. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 11 wherein said template sets parameters for the size and location of both editorial or listing content and advertising content on said page.

13. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said content database includes a plurality of electronic file format types and utilises any one or more of said plurality of file types on a single page of a publication.

14. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said electronic book contains multiple pages of information bound into a file with accompanying software to provide a user interface.

15. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 14 wherein said electronic book includes a page transition effect in the form of a page turn.

16. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step of outputting to said compiler occurs over the Internet.

17. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step of outputting to said compiler occurs over a local network.

18. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said multi-page publication is in a form to provide an entire page view on a typical computer monitor at average screen resolutions.

19. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said multi-page publication is in a form to provide an entire page view on a typical computer monitor substantially independent of screen resolution.

20. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said electronic publication is personalised to an individual intended reader or group of readers.

21. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said method further includes the step of distributing the electronic publication by email.

22. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said method further includes the step of distributing the electronic publication by download over the Internet.

23. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said method further includes the step of displaying the electronic publication for online viewing.

24. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said method includes a step of counting pages compiled for charging purposes.

25. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said method includes a user paying a subscription charge for an electronic publication.

26. A method of publishing an electronic publication as claimed in claim 1 wherein said method includes a user paying a charge prior to downloading or viewing an electronic publication

27. An electronic publishing method including the steps of:

- providing a user with access to make an request for a subset of information from a larger source of information; sourcing said subset of information and selecting relevant advertising; compiling said subset of information and said advertising into a electronic book; and

- making said electronic book available to said user in electronic form.

28. An electronic publishing method including the steps of:

- receiving a request from a user for editorial content in electronic form;

- sourcing said requested editorial content; - sourcing advertising content;

- compiling said editorial and/or advertising content into an electronic book;

- forwarding said electronic book in accordance with said request; and

- tracking usage of the compiler and/or the advertising for revenue purposes.

29. An electronic publication production means comprising: a processor for electronically processing a request for content to determine parameters of the content desired;

- selection means for selecting content from a content database based on said parameters of content desired; - a processor for processing said selected content to form a multiple page electronic document;

- output means for outputting said electronic document to a compiler; a compiler for compiling said electronic document into an electronic book; and output means for making said electronic book available for online viewing and/or distribution or use.