[Summary] In July 2000 began the electronic self-publishing of “The Plant”, an epistolary novel by Stephen King, who was the first best-selling author to launch such an experiment. The author began publishing “The Plant” in episodes on his own website. The chapters were available at regular intervals and could be downloaded in several formats (PDF, OeB, HTML, TXT). After the publication of the sixth chapter in December 2000, the author decided to stop the experiment, because more and more readers were downloading the chapters without paying for them. Stephen King went on with digital experiments though, but in partnership with his publisher. Digital experiments were also made in Europe in November 2000, by Frederick Forsyth, the British master of thrillers, whose latest short novels were published online by Online Originals, and by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a best-selling Spanish author, whose latest novel was available online during one month before being available in print. In Brazil, Paolo Coehlo began offering free PDF versions of his novels in early 2003. *** In 2000, Stephen King was the first best-selling author to launch digital experiments, followed by Frederick Forsyth and Arturo Pérez- Reverte in Europe and many other then, for example Paolo Coehlo in Brazil. # Stephen King As a first step, Stephen King distributed in March 2000 his short story “Riding the Bullet” as an electronic file, with 400,000 downloads during the first 24 hours in the digital bookstores that were selling it. In the wake of the media attention that followed, Stephen King launched its own website in July 2000 to self-publish his epistolary novel “The Plant” in episodes. The chapters were available at regular intervals and could be downloaded in several formats (PDF, OeB, HTML, TXT). After the publication of the sixth chapter in December 2000, the author decided to stop the experiment, because more and more readers were downloading the chapters without paying for them. Stephen King went on with digital experiments though, but in partnership with his publisher. In March 2001, his novel “Dreamcatcher” was the first to be launched both in print by Simon & Schuster and as an ebook in Palm Digital Media, Palm’s digital bookstore. In March 2002, his collection of short stories “Everything’s Eventual” was launched in print by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and as an ebook in Palm Digital Media, with an excerpt that could be freely downloaded. # Frederick Forsyth