E-Book Releases Are Coming for \'Diary of a Wimpy Kid\' Novels

Amulet Books An illustration from Jeff Kinney's best-selling “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series.

The personal journals of a young Greg Heffley, the not entirely wimpy protagonist of Jeff Kinney's best-selling “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series, are getting an electronic upgrade. The Amulet Books imprint of Abrams said on Monday that it would release the first six volumes of the illustrated “Wimpy Kid” novels in e-book - or is that wimp-e-book? - format on Oct. 30, leading to the simultaneous hardcover and electronic publication of a new seventh book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel,” on Nov. 13.

Mr. Kinney, who fir st published his “Wimpy Kid” stories on the Web site funbrain.com in 2004, had been reluctant to release the novels as e-books after they started appearing in print in 2007. But in a statement he said: “It was important to me to make sure the books look just as good on the screen as they do on paper. I'm thrilled at the way the books look on e-readers, tablets and other devices, and I hope fans enjoy having them in digital format as much as they've enjoyed them as books.”

Amulet Books said it has published more than 75 million “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books in 41 languages in more than 44 countries. The books have also been adapted into a series of hit movies, the most recent of which, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” was released in August.