Catherine Cookson's estate set to infuriate publishing houses by releasing 100 cut-price e-books (UK)

"She sold more than 100million books and was for years the most-borrowed author in British libraries. Now, more than 12 years after her death, Catherine Cookson, the best-selling author of The Fifteen Streets and the Mallen trilogy, is embroiled in a literary bust-up. Her estate, the Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust, is set to infuriate the print publishing industry by releasing 100 of her novels as cut-price electronic books. The trust's literary agent, Sonia Land, has not informed Mrs Cookson's print publishers, Transworld Publishers and Simon & Schuster, about the release for fear of opposition. The publishing houses will not benefit from the e-books, available via Amazon from this week, and may see their sales suffer as a result"