John Wiley & Sons claims they were actually the first North American publisher to open a store in the virtual world of Second Life (SL). Their store opened in January, and in February, they hosted a virtual reception for Second Life: The Official Guide by Michael Rymaszewski, Wagner James Au, Mark Wallace, Catherine Winters, Cory Ondrejka, and Benjamin Batstone-Cunningham. Wiley publicist Ashley Evens said the reception drew about 60 attendees, and was moderated by “Aimee Webber”—a SL celebrity whose Creating Your World: The Official Guide to Advanced Content Creation for Second Life (by Catherine Winters and Alyssa LaRoche)—will be published by Wiley in August.
Evens said that, though their store is open for business, The Official Guide book is the only title currently available for sale. They’re also offering SL accoutrements, and in October, they’ll be publishing The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Second Life: Making Money in the Metaverse by Daniel Terdiman (a guide explaining how to launch and profit from virtual businesses in SL).
This article is a follow-up to this story on Bantam Dell’s SL store published Tuesday.