MADISON, Wis. – Jim Jerving, manager of editorial products for CUNA, knows it's not completely without risk, but believes an e-book could be just thing to drive more people to a CUNA management program. For years, some analysts have said that print publications will be cannibalized by their own online versions and eventually wiped out. That hasn't happened yet, and doesn't appear to be a real threat any more. CUNA, spearheaded by Jerving, is going to break ground in the CU industry with the first-ever e-book offered free to the credit union community The e-book entitled "Managing through Motivation" is part of CUNA's MERIT (Management Enrichment Training) program. The e-book will be about 30 pages, and there will also be a complete print version consisting of about 160 pages. Jerving is the book's author. There will be about a $30 charge for the hard copy version. "What we're trying to accomplish by offering an e-book to is offer people unfamiliar with MERIT a chance to see what it's like. Hopefully if they like the e-book, they'll print it out and then try and get more information on the MERIT program," said Jerving. The e-book will be available as a PDF file from CUNA's site (www.cuna.org) this July. Jerving said CUNA is making the e-book printer friendly because even Web-heads like hard copies of what they download online. "Most people don't want to read a book on the computer, which you had to do with Stephen King's e-book. People want to download and have a hard copy," said Jerving. He recently attended a Publisher's Marketing Association book expo in Chicago where the speakers concurred that e-publishing isn't making a lot of money for publishers right now. "It's more of a loudspeaker or megaphone to announce a product, but it's not making money," said Jerving, who is hoping his e-book will be a loudspeaker for the MERIT program. The e-book will also have Jerving's e-mail address embedded in the file so readers can talk to Jerving via e-mail. "It's interactive to the author. People can have a question answered online," said Jerving. This is the sixth book Jerving has authored for credit unions. He authored some with the World Council of CUs and some for CUNA. CUNA did offer an e-book on privacy last year as well as a print version, but the e-book came at a cost. CUNA charged $27.95 for the e-book and $32.95 for the hard copy. Jerving did not have a breakdown of the hard copy and e-book sales of last year's privacy book at press time. [email protected]