King's e-story posts strong sales

(New York-AP) -- Horror writer Stephen King has topped himself, scaring bookstore owners in the process.<br><br>King's publisher says the downloadable e-book "Riding the Bullet" racked up 400-thousand

Wednesday, March 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(New York-AP) -- Horror writer Stephen King has topped himself, scaring bookstore owners in the process.

King's publisher says the downloadable e-book "Riding the Bullet" racked up 400-thousand orders in the first 24 hours that
it was available for sale over the Internet.

A Simon and Schuster spokesman says "nothing compares to this." He says not even one of King's many best-sellers sold that well on the first day of publication.

Barnes and Noble-dot-com, which -- like competitor Amazon-dot-com -- offered free downloading, says King's decision to publish on the Internet is "a concrete declaration that the e-book format has arrived."

But King is more circumspect. In a statement the writer says, "I don't think anything will replace the printed word and the
bound book."

On the Net:http://www.simonandschuster.com