After saying no to e-books for years, a big-name author, Terry Goodkind, has now said yes.

Though reluctant up to now to put his books into e-book format, Goodkind surrendered to the allure of Amazon’s Kindle (plus an undisclosed sum of money), according to a story by Rachel Deahl in Publishers Weekly. Goodkind agreed to let his first novel, Wizard’s First Rule, be rereleased on an exclusive basis on the Kindle. Read the story here.

The fact that Amazon offered competitive terms is a promising sign of financial health for the e-book industry. But it also means that Amazon has placed itself into competition with publishers for content.

For an interesting analysis of the pros and cons of e-books and Kindle in particular, check out this commentary by Hugh D’Andrade on the website of the Electronic Frontier Foundation entitled,What If the Kindle Succeeds?

– Richard Curtis