Jeff Kinney is one of the most popular children's book authors on the planet. More than 75 million copies of the first six books in his "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series are in print in 41 languages. They just haven't been available in a digital format.
But that's about to change.
The series' publisher, Amulet Books, announced Monday that it would release the first six titles in the illustrated series as Wimp-E-Books. The e-books will be available for download on Oct. 30 and are available for pre-order today through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The highly anticipated seventh book, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel," will be available as both a hardcover and a Wimp-E-Book on Nov. 13. One month before book No. 7's release, "The Third Wheel" has already spent 120 days on Amazon.com's top 100 bestseller list.
Kinney, who was named one of Time magazine's most influential people in the world, first introduced "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" in 2004 through the website Funbrain.com, where the book is still free and available. Since the first book was published in 2007, the series has gone on to become a standing feature on bestseller lists nationwide.
They haven't been available digitally due to a combination of technical issues and Kinney's personal reservations.