Exit1 Announces the Launch of Booksfree.com, the Unique Online Service That Features Free Books

Reston, Va., October 4, 2000 - Exit1, Incorporated, an Internet technology solutions provider, today announced the launch of the booksfree.com web site, the premier site featuring free paperback fiction novels to members. The site, www.booksfree.com, will enable users to sign-up for membership and immediately start receiving both current and past best-selling paperbacks delivered right to their doorsteps

The concept is simple and innovative - people sign up as members and may immediately choose the best selling paperbacks they wish to read. Booksfree.com ships it along with a postage paid return mailer. After the books have been read, members simply package them in the postage paid return mailer and place them in their mailbox. In addition, any one may purchase books and books on tape at a discount.

Doug Ross, President and CEO of booksfree.com said, "While the concept is simple and the site is easy to use, the back end of providing the service is quite complex. Keeping track of a very elaborate database -- debiting and crediting individual member accounts; managing currency for postage and selling of books; crediting and debiting value points for borrowing books; and providing ready access to both borrowing and purchasing books -- provided a technical challenge. While we offer one product, the technology infrastructure had to be designed to handle these many functions while allowing ease of use by the consumer."

In the middle of the night in early in 1999, Ross became intrigued with the idea of harnessing the Internet to provide a high demand product. While his research found that the demand for books was soaring, he realized the challenges of trying to compete with current Internet booksellers. Therefore, he devised a concept to offer best selling books basically for free while maintaining a profitable business plan through recycling. Ross presented his concept to Andy Bilinski in the spring of 1999 and together they made the commitment to turn the concept into reality. Hours of research, development and brainstorming refined the idea to the point of putting the concept into a formal business plan designed to attract an initial round of investors for a private offering to launch the company.

Ross and Andy Bilinski, Chairman of the Board, began a series of presentations culminating in commitments from seed investors taking the company through development and at least the first year of operations. Playing a significant role in attracting the investment community was a survey conducted by Centrac Corporation presenting the concept to potential members of booksfree.com. Booksfree.com was officially incorporated in September 1999, with legal advice and support provided by James Fourqurean and Frank Grace of Fairfax.

With the concept in place and money in hand, the process of putting together a team of professionals began. Judy Huntzinger, former CFO to BDM agreed to become the CFO of booksfree.com and join the Board of Directors. Other individuals who soon agreed to round out the initial Board of Directors included Vera Chawla, Marilyn Quayle, and Michael Targoff, all seasoned veterans of corporate and entrepreneurial business ventures.

Ross said, "After a thorough competitive analysis, Exit1, Inc. was chosen as our web site development partner, ADS was chosen for our back-end warehouse system and Paladin International was selected as our marketing strategists. These selections represent very capable companies and individuals committed to making booksfree.com a successful site in the highly competitive Internet marketplace."

Alec Berry, Vice President & CTO of Exit1 said, "Building booksfree.com has been a rewarding experience for Exit1. The combination of booksfree.com's innovative concept and Exit1's expertise in e-commerce, database development, and Internet security, has resulted in a truly exciting and unique service."

"Avid book readers will enjoy booksfree.com because they can now join a 24/7 book service that offers exceptional convenience with books delivered directly to their doorstep and selection without ever incurring library late fines," Ross concluded.