Take the entrepreneurial mind of Richmond businessman Jack Singer. Add the creative talent of attorney Alex Papajohn and voila! A novel idea for a new business — eNovel.com, an Internet-based publishing company that publishes and sells books of all genres, as well as out-of-print books, online. The Richmond-based company also plans to sell its books by way of "print on demand," meaning they’ll only manufacture a print version of a book when a reader asks for one.

ENovel.com aspires to become "the world’s largest publisher," Papajohn says. Budding writers submit works to be posted on the Web site and are charged a 40 percent fee of all sales made from their book. Although writers may have a better chance of getting published online, manuscripts still go through a rigorous editorial screening process, Papajohn says.

This is a welcome avenue for amateur authors, considering that only one in 2,000 writers gets a print publishing deal. If Singer and Papajohn get their way, the days of ink, paper and binding will largely be replaced with hand-held computer devices containing files of books.

Customers can read four "books" directly on the Web for $10 a month, or pay $99 a year for unlimited reading access. Hard copies of books can also be purchased through the Web site.

Five publishers have agreed to work with eNovel (the company will also sell surplus books from other companies), and it is contacting 200 others. Even so, with other online and traditional bookstores, such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, why in the world would any company get into publishing?

"One of our objectives is to help struggling authors get published and gain recognition so they can make it into the big leagues," Papajohn says. ENovel.com faces stiff competition. New York-based Random House, the largest trade publisher in the country, plans to branch into electronic publishing. The American Association of Publishers estimates that by 2005, electronic novels will be a $2.3 million industry.