Barnes & Noble has read the virtual writing on the wall and has announced it is getting into the e-tail business by buying Fictionwise, one of the country’s largest ebook retailers, for $15.7 million. Considering not just the price but what they actually bought, it’s a big deal. As Michael Cader reports in this story from Publisher’s Lunch, “Since Fictionwise owns eReader and drives the store for Lexcycle’s Stanza, it makes BN a big player on the mobile platform. And last month Fictionwise announced they would run the econtent store for Plastic Logic‘s form-advancing ereading device, so there’s one natural device tie-in to build on.” In a press release, the company explained, “Barnes & Noble said it plans to use Fictionwise as part of its overall digital strategy, which includes the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year.”

A report for Publishers Weekly by Jim Milliot, meanwhile, says the founder/owners of the company, Steve and Scott Pendergast, “will continue to head the company which B&N said it will operate as a separate business unit based in New Jersey.”

They said they decided to sell the company because they were “looking for the right partner with a shared vision on the future of the industry. Barnes & Noble was an excellent match.”