Chicago Distribution Center (CDC), a division of the University of Chicago Press, has signed an agreement with online services provider Tizra, Inc., US. Under the deal, CDC publishers will be able to sell subscriptions to online books. The joint venture will pilot in Summer 2008 with the University of Chicago Press and other CDC publishers using the services of Bibliovault, CDC's digital repository for not-for-profit publishers.
The CDC/Tizra service will combine the data conversion, shopping cart, print fulfillment, e-commerce and reporting systems of CDC with the web publishing and delivery capabilities of the Tizra Agile PDFTM hosted application. The result is projected to offer CDC publishers seamless online marketing and merchandising. Agile PDF creates branded web sites, while collaboration with the CDC enables publishers to integrate sales reporting for online and print publications.
Tizra seeks to provide content owners - large and small - with enhanced control over the marketing, sales and delivery of their online content. The company's first product, AgilePDF, is a hosted service that enables non-technical staff to create new online products from existing content and sell them through publisher branded websites with flexible business terms.
