What Is An eTextbook?
We have all seen and read physical textbooks, in school and even at home. Textbooks have always served as great vehicles of the academic knowledge base and also theoretical validation materials for all age groups. Textbooks are primarily reference material which accommodates and accompany the syllabus of an educational structure or carries organization mission statements. However, the primary concern we ever had with Textbooks was taking and referring through their bulky hundreds of pages. Technology has on the other hand significantly improved over the recent years, from inventions of computing devices such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets to designs of the different machine-readable languages.
A machine readable language is a programming language which can read and understood by software, in most cases that being the operating system which runs the computer or laptop. With these digital inventions taking place, information and knowledge are continuously being presented in digital form. And the traditional textbooks are no exception to the changing times and evolution. An eTextbook is, therefore, a digital form of the physical textbook which can now be read on different computing devices. Though the traditional textbooks have been converted and transported to eBook formats, the essence of the material and the joy of referring to a text book needs to ensure, by all those converting it.
Is there any difference between a Textbook and an eTextbook?
The only difference between a textbook and an eTextbook is the medium of presentation. Physical textbooks are presented in paper form whereas eTextbooks are presented in electronic form. Otherwise, the content is still the same across the different platforms; may it be texts, graphs, charts, or even the graphics used. However, eTextbook arrives at an additional advantage of enhanced readability features such as inbuilt read aloud voice synthesizer, global web connectivity for further research on a topic, and also the convenience of including multimedia content in its structure. This further enhances the productivity of textual matters and forms a bond with the reader which effectively drives him to academic excellence.
What computing devices support eTextbooks?
To properly view content, eTextbooks are readable on PC (desktops and laptops), iPads, and tablets. Some mobile and Nook devices also support eTextbooks although it is not very comfortable to read on such devices as a result of their small screens. Therefore, it is highly recommended that Textbooks prepared in digital format be viewed and opened in Desktop devices or larger screen devices. One strains a lot while trying to read content on small screens due to minuscule font sizes. Having said that, where the said eTextbook is being prepared ready for intuitive engagement, say for example on Kindle devices, it can still be effective owing to font enhancements that come with the built-in facilities of the device.
Most readers do offer two hundred percentage magnification and thereby solve the issue of font and readability. However, therein comes a different problem of distortion and the need to frequently turning for merely two or three sentences at best. Also, with zoom effects, the artwork and design takes a beating, and might prove to be highly convoluted and tiring experience after all. Hence, you might require employing an eBook conversion professional service to accommodate and prepare your material for all kinds of screen sizes and device software.
How can one acquire and eTextbook?
The process involved in obtaining an eTextbook is relatively easy. The books are downloadable via the internet for free from sites such as The Guttenberg project or FreeEbooks website (or even Kindle stores when they have a sale) or at a fee depending on what are offered by the authors. After downloading a book from the internet, a reader can always enjoy its content offline. Once the book is owned for a price, it can also be synced and read in many devices managed under a single account. For example, if you happen to buy a Kindle title through a PC, all you need to do is log in to your Amazon Kindle account on your Tablet, Mobile, Laptop or Kindle device, to view the purchase. Additionally, you can pick up where you left across devices so that you don’t have to start from the beginning every time you boot a device or rather change it.
However, besides these points there always a possibility of acquiring these eTextbooks from unofficial sources as well. This does not, however, dispute the fact that some books with the same format can be accessed online.
For those who would wish to have a temporary copy of a textbook may be for referral purposes, the room has been created, and such opportunities are in place. One can rent an eTextbook for a considerable period, and upon the expiration of the agreed period, he or she is denied access to the rented content. Again, popular publishing hosts, such as Amazon, Apple iBooks or Google Playbooks, offer a limited time preview for individually selected titles. Once a reader is satisfied and fully informed with the work basing on the sample, he is then required to buy the publication for further use. All of these factors again depend on the author preferences, publisher’s marketing strategy, and managers of the publishing content.
Are there copyrights restrictions on eTextbooks?
For the writers and publishers who are thinking of embracing the new technology in place and perhaps worried about their content’s safety, there is no need to worry. As with any digital publication, the right to protect the content from wrongful distribution is always of prime importance. To prevent illegal reproductions on the original content, there restrictions set in place that bars malicious people from reproducing writers work without their consent. Some of the popular options for Digital Rights Management, around Apple, Adobe and Amazon are Fairplay, ExpressPlay, and Kindle DRM respectively. These options, when chosen by either the author or the publication house, are coded into the publication, which thereby prevents the sharing and distribution of content.
Where good eTextbooks designers are employed, it is not so surprising to find a limitation on the number of pages that can be copied or printed from a book.
Can a writer make is own eTextbook?
This is possible as long as the writer is well acquainted with the procedures of coming up with a standard universally acceptable eTextbook. As far as content goes, a writer is always the perfect judge of what the book is all about. And as the old saying goes ‘Content Is King.’ However, purely having content is considerably different from having it published. Publishing involves a whole lot more than just theoretical and textual matters. The proper packaging, adaptation settings, media and artwork inclusions, etc. play a huge role in either making a textbook highly rewarding or utterly mundane. To counter this and to make work easier, most writers prefer to hire publishing service providers to assist them in different areas as they come up with their eTextbooks. This is because not everyone is good at programming the different eTextbooks formats. The publishing services so hired will prepare and package the eTextbook as per the vision of the author and give him the final output, without ever losing out on the quality of content.
What are the advantages of eTextbooks?
There are indeed a bunch of benefits that come with owning electronic textbooks. One key advantage is portability. Readers can just move around with as many books as possible in their devices from one place to another, the reading experience, therefore, incurs fewer disruptions and takes lesser time. This is of particular importance because Textbooks have traditionally always been referred to by its users for knowledge purposes. That next reference point and clarity are highly facilitated by the use of eTextbooks, with the inbuilt search, save, highlight and bookmark features available in most eBook readers or applications.
What should an engaging eTextbook ideally consist of?
Now that we have a clear understanding of what eTextbook could achieve in the manner of its adaptability, functionality, and flexibility, an important question comes to the fore. Do we go with the same textual material that we used in a physical textbook in its eForm as well? Well, the majority of publishers would tell you that this is a safe option, considering the academic relevance of the matter included within it. However, with changing times, there has been lots of change in the way people read, and textbooks need to evolve with such change too. With reduced attention spans, and multitasking minds, the same material transported from natural sources to digital ones hardly holds relevant.
This is where tweaking and editing of source material to make it more device, and digital friendly becomes necessary. Also with inclusions of multimedia content within eTextbooks, it becomes irrelevant to hold excellent information textually when the same can be achieved with a simple diagram or artwork. Hence making the eTextbook as involving and enriching as possible, as an exercise means taking care of its relevance and textual matters. Our publishing company offers these services as part of our publishing packages, and take care that the crux of the content always remains intact and relevant, at the same time trimming down on remote parts.
We can help you come up with quality eTextbooks!
We are a team of high-quality publishing service providers who are ready to see you through a continuous process of making your quality electronic textbooks. All you simply need to do is call or email us for any further discussions. We value your eTextbooks!
