Fatbrain.com to boost authors' bottom line

NEWS Online techie community, Fatbrain.com, has announced a service that uses digital rights technology to distribute written material. Fatbrain.com claims the service, called eMatter, will allow authors to get royalty payments on works which are longer than newspaper articles, but shorter than novels - a length which is typically unprofitable to print and distribute. The company said the digital publishing model will allow it to take advantage of its online community and challenge Web giants such as Amazon.com which have used the medium to sell hard copy material.