We’ve talked a good deal in this space about converged media, the blending of paid, owned, and earned in digital channels. Now it appears a sound barrier of sorts has been shattered with the selection of a native ad that Dell created for Forbes.com for publication in an actual book.

This month, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt published “The Best American Infographics 2013,” which includes an illustration that Dell published on its Forbes BrandVoice page in April 2012. The credit reads “Dell Inc. on Forbes.com.”

Dell Managing Editor Stephanie Losee regards this as a watershed moment for content marketing. “In other words, one of the most prestigious publishing houses in the world just called Dell a publisher, and they did it because of what we posted on our DellVoice page. Native advertising, meet traditional publishing.”

“As far as I know,” Losee told me, “This is the first time a traditional publisher has affirmed sponsored content as editorial, particularly as prestigious a publishing house as Houghton Mifflin. They were fully aware of the source. They knew it was native advertising, yet still selected the graphic and gave us credit.”

Read the rest of this post on iMedia, where it originally published.