The proliferation of e-reading devices is creating new opportunities for publishers who have not traditionally sold their content in packaged form. I think it’s also a matter of necessity: an increasing number of e-reader users actually prefer to read on their devices.

These content publishers—I’m talking here about businesses who produce content that is often given away (like a “whitepaper”) or packaged with advertising—must begin thinking of this audience. Websites, PDF, e-mail and RSS are the usual formats, but Kindle and ePub should also be part of this mix.

That may seem like extra work but there are two benefits worth considering:

One, it can be profitable. Ars Technica sold 3,000 copies of their Kindle e-book Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: the Ars Technica Review in 24 hours. That’s a net revenue of $10,500 for something they were giving away for free on their website.

Two, it expands awareness. This is especially beneficial for business-to-business publishers who have traditionally marketed through business trade channels. As B2B and B2C audience lines blur—after all, business people are consumers too—making your information available in one or more of the e-book retail stores has the potential of reaching a new audience.

Web marketing services firm Hubspot has been particularly active with this strategy publishing four otherwise free guides so far. For example, their 11 Examples of Online Marketing Success is available from three different sources, two free and one for $2.99:

• Webinknow offers the guide as a free download, no registration required.
• Hubspot’s own website also offers it for free if you register.
• The exact same guide is offered in the Amazon Kindle store for $2.99 (originally it was 99 cents but perhaps they noticed Ars Technica’s success).

There is no question that a multi-format publishing workflow is extra work. But making it more convenient for readers to consume your media seems to have the potential to generate income as well as awareness.

Considering the publishing tools and a marketplace to sell one’s media is essentially free, what is the downside of satisfying your audience or reaching new readers?