He Kindled a new business

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Ridgewood, N.J., is making inroads in the burgeoning e-reader accessory market.

Eric Fisherman, founder of Eric Fisherman Inc., acquired rights in 2006 to sell the Periscope book cover and reading light, which his father, Carl Fisherman, invented more than 20 years ago and sold through other companies.

The younger Fisherman says he reworked his dad's design so that it fits the Amazon Kindle e-reader, last year's hot-selling $260 electronic device that's smaller than a spiral notebook but can hold a library of 1,500 digital books.

His lighted Kindle covers - priced at about $50 each at periscopelight.com, amazon.com and at several stores and in travel-goods catalogs - sold out during the holiday shopping season.

"We're sitting with a lot of back orders," Fisherman said during a recent interview at his office. "I tripled my business last year."

Fisherman, who worked as a consultant to importers and manufacturers before the Periscope venture, declined to disclose sales figures.

Fisherman, 50, runs the company without anyone but himself on the payroll by farming out the manufacturing to companies in China and outsourcing sales, packaging design and marketing to freelancers, and shipping to UPS and others.

He says in a tough economy he didn't expect to run out of Kindle covers in the holiday rush. "I didn't know if Christmas was coming or not," he said.

As it turned out, e-readers, including the Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook and others, were among the bright spots in a better-than-expected holiday shopping season. The Consumer Electronics Association, which wrapped up its annual convention in Las Vegas recently, estimates 2.2 million e-readers were sold last year, nearly four times the 2008 number and up from 20,000 in 2006.

"This has been an absolutely explosive market," said Jason Oxman, the association's senior vice president of industry affairs. "We are estimating the market will more than double to more than 5 million in 2010, with more than $1 billion in sales."

So makers of e-reader accessories, like Fisherman and much larger rivals M-Edge, based in Maryland, and Gold Crest LLC in California, the maker of Mighty Bright lights, are poised to profit.

E-readers are very light and slender and, with prices starting at about $200, they need a sturdy cover. Compatible reading lights also are in demand because the screens - designed to replicate the printed page - are not back-lit like typical computer screens. So, in poorly lighted spaces, external lighting is often needed.

Customers like to use compact e-reader lights to read in bed, on planes and trains, and in their living rooms when family members are watching television with the lights off, Fisherman said.

While other manufacturers make e-reader covers and still others create e-reader lights, Fisherman claims his is the only product that combines both. The Periscope Lighted Folio for the Kindle 2 opens like a book and holds the 10.2-ounce Kindle on the right and an old-fashioned notepad and pen on the left. The user raises and lowers the adjustable lamp like a periscope from a casing attached to the fold. The twin LED lights are powered by three AA batteries that are rated to last 40 hours.

Based on sales volume, Fisherman was recently invited by Amazon.com to sell his covers in the online retail giant's "Kindle Store" and he was given "prime" merchant status. Having the higher standing with Amazon means more online shoppers will see the product, and Amazon, which receives a commission on the sales, will warehouse and ship the orders. "The nice part was Amazon came to me," he said.

Amazon.com lists Amazon's own $29.99 leather cover as the top-selling Kindle accessory, followed by a Mighty Bright clip-on light ($19.99) and another clip-on light by M-Edge ($24.99).

Fisherman's cover for the Kindle 2 was not on the Kindle Store accessory best-seller list. On Monday it was still sold out and listed as unavailable. However, the inventory will be replenished and sales are expected to resume as air-freight shipments of new covers are delivered from China to his and to Amazon's warehouses over the next few weeks, he said.

Meanwhile, he is introducing a cover and light for the Amazon DX e-reader in the coming weeks. The DX has a 9.7-inch-long screen, more than three inches longer than the Kindle 2, and it holds more books.

That cover will sell for about $60. He says he's in talks with Barnes & Noble to offer a cover and light for the Nook e-reader. He already sells book-light covers for print books in Barnes & Noble stores. He also is developing a folder with a retractable light for choral groups, who often are called upon to read sheet music on a poorly lighted stage.

The overall consumer electronics accessory market, including such items as cellphone cases, iPod ear bugs and screen cleaners, is expected to reach $8 billion this year, Oxman said. The trade group has not yet estimated the size of the emerging e-reader accessory market.

"High-demand products create demand for accessories,'' he said, "and I expect the e-reader accessory makers will benefit from that."

(c) 2010, North Jersey Media Group Inc.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.