WOWIO Watch

Received a heads up from both US and Australian sources abut stirrings – or rather lack of – on the WOWIO front. For those of you unfamiliar with the name, WOWIO is an ebook distribution site for books and comic book properties. The website has up to now been offering free digital content to subscribers in the US. Publishers and creators whose work has appeared on this site have received regular royalty payments based on downloads of their respective works. The current WOWIO website has gone offline to be replaced with a message that says: "WOWIO is going global" and a promise to go live again in mid-July. An Aussie contact who was well-represented on the website said they received an email yesterday saying that WOWIO was currently in negotiation with a purchaser. Our contact also mentioned they had not had problems with late payments. Our advice is to wait and see who buys out the company, check out the new operating plan and most importantly read the fine print in the intellectual property rights component of the agreement, and then decide whether or not it's in your best interest to do business with them.