By Erin L. Cox

Today, the Los Angeles Times is releasing their first e-book, A Nightmare Made Real, based on a series of articles by staff writer Christopher Goffard. The e-book is an expanded version of Goffard’s two-part series this summer on Louis Gonzalez III, a Las Vegas banker accused of kidnapping, torture and sexual assault.

Available today for Kindle, Nook and iBooks for 99 cents, A Nightmare Made Real is said to be the first in a series of eight to ten e-books that The Los Angeles Times intends to publish. “As a content company, we are enthusiastic about harnessing new mediums and business models that expand the reach of our unique storytelling,” said Times President Kathy Thomson. “The immediacy of e-book publishing allows us to easily adapt Times coverage to a convenient reader experience that’s being heavily embraced.”

It’s the latest in a trend that is seeing newspapers, from the Guardian to La Vanguardia, publishing e-books.

Many nonfiction bestsellers published by book publishers tend to start with original reporting in newspapers and magazines around the country and the world. With newspapers entering the realm of book publishing and cutting traditional book publishers out of the middle, how will this impact a book publisher’s list?