Riding the Bullet

"Riding the Bullet"
Cover of the original e-book release
Author	Stephen King
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror short story
Published in	Everything's Eventual
Publication type	Online
Media type	e-book, Print (Hardcover)
Publication date	March 14, 2000

Riding the Bullet is a novella by Stephen King. This work marks King's debut on the Internet. Simon & Schuster, with technology by SoftLock, first published Riding the Bullet in 2000 as the world's first mass-market e-book, available for download at $2.50. That year, the novella was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction and the International Horror Guild Award for Best Long Form. In 2002, the novella was included in King's collection Everything's Eventual.

During the first 24 hours, over 400,000 copies of Riding the Bullet were downloaded, jamming SoftLock's server. Some Stephen King fans waited hours for the download.

With over 500,000 downloads, Stephen King seemed to pave the way of the publishing future. The actual number of readers was unclear because the encryption caused countless computers to crash.

The total financial gross of the electronic publication remains uncertain. Initially offered at $2.50 by SoftLock and then Simon & Schuster, Amazon and Barnes & Noble gave free downloads.

In 2009, Lonely Road Books announced the impending release of Riding the Bullet: The Deluxe Special Edition Double, by Stephen King and Mick Garris, as an oversized slipcased hardcover bound in the flip book or tête-bêche format (like an Ace Double) featuring the novella Riding the Bullet, the original script for the eponymous 2004 film by Mick Garris, and artwork by Alan M. Clark and Bernie Wrightson. The book was available in three editions: