Akron, Ohio: A new online media company formed by veteran newspaper journalists announces its first national contracts to supply custom, multimedia content.
SunLit Communications LLC, staffed mostly by journalists from the former Knight Ridder Newspapers, will assist Random House Inc. in its “One Book, One Community” program by providing an online hub to complement community programming for selected titles. In addition, SunLit is contributing to MSN.com’s “Shopping Advice” section. The company is also profiling Ohio authors for the Web site of The Ohio Center for the Book, a Library of Congress institution.
SunLit provides high-quality news and information services to publishers, media organizations, public libraries and others. It also produces DelMio.com, an interactive online magazine for book lovers.
“We bring to the table a group of award-winning journalists who are experienced in creating multimedia content” said Diane Evans, the president of SunLit and a former Knight Ridder columnist. “I believe we are unique in bringing our collective writing skills and editorial judgments to bear on the production of informative, entertaining online content.”
SunLit services include:
• Custom content for Web sites, with interactive components
• Management of Web sites, with regular content updates and monitoring of forums and other interactivity
• Mini-Web sites and special services for communities and public libraries participating in reading programs such as “Big Read” and “One Book, One Community”
• Free daily RSS news feeds on books and authors, produced or aggregated by the SunLit/DelMio staff
Random House Inc. sponsors the “One Book, One Community” program to supplement community reading programs with online study materials and discussion opportunities. “We are pleased to be working with DelMio to help provide communities with added resources for their One Book programs,” said Jennifer Childs, Director of Library Marketing at Random House, Inc.
A sampling of the free supplemental reading materials can be found by clicking on “One Book” at the home page of www.DelMio.com. To find multimedia profiles on Ohio authors, including Nikki Giovanni, click on the Ohio Center for the Book logo.
The SunLit Communications staff includes former Knight Ridder editors Mike Needs and Dave Wilson; former Knight Ridder award-winning writers Mary Ethridge, Jane Snow and Nancy Peacock and former Chicago Tribune editor, Anne Brennan. Advisers include Thomas Fladung, Saint Paul Pioneer Press editor-in-chief, and Timothy D. Smith, a former Knight Ridder managing editor and now a media law expert at Kent State University.
SunLit Communications mainly grew out of the Akron Beacon Journal, the founding paper of the former Knight Newspapers, which later became Knight Ridder. SunLit is dedicated to upholding the journalistic values of newspaper pioneer John S. Knight.
SunLit is housed at the Akron Innovation Campus at the University of Akron. The SunLit/Delmio home page can be found at www.delmio.com.
For more information, contact Rick Rubright at 330-869-2166.
