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BURLINGTON, N.J. and CLEVELAND, Sept. 5 -- Franklin Electronic Publishers Inc. (NYSE: FEP - news), the leading worldwide provider of handheld electronic Books, and OverDrive, Inc., (www.overdrive.com) a leading provider of software and content management services to the ePublishing industry, announced today that Franklin will be selling the leading eBook authoring software directly through its website franklin.com. Both companies recently introduced new products for the eBook industry. Franklin announced its new eBookmanŽ series of multimedia reading devices that will run Microsoft Reader, and OverDrive debuted its line of software products that convert word processing, HTML, image and other text and file formats to Microsoft Reader .lit files.

Franklin will carry the entire ReaderWorks product line, the preeminent software conversion tools used to create Microsoft .lit files required by Reader. The products include ReaderWorks Standard, which Franklin will make available as a free download, ReaderWorks Publisher for commercial eBook production, and the ReaderWorks Software Developers Kit (SDK), which is used to automate high-volume production of eBooks.

Steve Potash, president of OverDrive, said, ``With its portability and price point, the Franklin eBookmanŽ represents a major step forward in eBooks. Our strategic relationship with Franklin and its vast distribution network presents a tremendous opportunity to expand the Reader marketplace worldwide.''

Barry Lipsky, president and CEO of Franklin, stated, ``Our relationship with OverDrive further increases the variety of content and applications which will be available for our eBookman line. The ability for authors, whether well-known or aspiring, students and virtually all writers to be able to e-publish content in Microsoft Reader format further helps propel the success of eBooks in general. We are especially excited to be joining forces with OverDrive who is leading the pack in providing these tools.''

About Franklin Electronic Publishers

Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. (NYSE: FEP - news), is the worldwide market leader in handheld electronic books, including the popular BOOKMANŽ series. The company is also the exclusive producer and distributor of ROLODEX® Electronics brand of personal information management products. Franklin has sold more than 23 million electronic books and currently publishes more than 200 titles, including dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries; encyclopedias; Bibles; entertainment titles; education and tutorial publications; and medical reference works. Franklin products, available in sixteen languages, are sold in 45,000 retail outlets worldwide, through catalogs and on line at http://www.franklin.com. The Company has sales and distribution subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Benelux countries, Canada, Australia and Mexico, and production management offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

About OverDrive

OverDrive is a leading ePublishing software and service company focusing on solutions for the Microsoft Reader and Open eBook Forum standards. OverDrive is a founding member of the Open eBook (OEB) Forum and is committed to providing solutions that support both OEB and Reader formats. Its services group provide a range of services that includes content conversion to .LIT (Reader format) and Microsoft DAS-enabled Digital Rights Management (DRM) hosting solutions. Its products are available through their website www.overdrive.com.

Franklin, BOOKMAN and eBookman are registered trademarks of Franklin Electronic Publishers. More news on Franklin and eBookMan...

ROLODEX® is a registered trademark of Berol Corporation, a subsidiary of Newell Rubbermaid Inc.

OverDrive is a registered trademark of OverDrive, Inc.

All other trademarks and product names mentioned herein are owned by their respective companies.