10 ways digital books are changing our literary lives

From the Denver Post (dated 4/18/11):

The Hermitage Bookshop in Cherry Creek North, decidedly old-school with its oak furniture and elaborate Persian rug, isn't where you'd expect to find a fan of e-books, but listen to owner Bob Topp: "E-books have increased the purchase of print books," he says.

"It's easy for people to read the Sunday paper, look at a book review, and 10 minutes later, they've got that e-book on their Kindle. More people reading is good. I think it's way too early to say that the e-book will kill the hardback."

Topp doesn't use an e-reader, but his wife does. She praises its ability to store hundreds of novels in a slim, mobile device that weighs less than most of the venerable collectible books on the Hermitage shelves.

Certainly, digital publishing is changing the way people consume books — how and where they acquire books, and how and where they read. Here are 10 examples, old school versus new.

Jesse Jackson Jr. views iPads as responsible for jobless Americans

From "the Telegraph"

‘This device … is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs,’ said Rep Jesse Jackson Jr to the House of Representatives last Friday. Here he is, decrying the loss of jobs such as those in ‘libraries, bookstores. Jobs that depend on paper. In the not-too-distant future, such jobs will not exist.’

He also shares that students at Chicago State University are being issued iPads instead of textbooks, and states that the university president is hoping to have a "textbookless" campus in four years.

E-Books Rank as #1 Format among All Trade Categories for the Month

From the Association of American Publishers:

This one-month surge is primarily attributed to a high level of strong post-holiday e-Book buying, or “loading,” by consumers who received e-Reader devices as gifts. Experts note that the expanded selection of e-Readers introduced for the holidays and the broader availability of titles are factors.

And also reported on Engadget:

US sales of e-books generated about $90.3 million in revenue in February -- roughly triple the sales reported in the same month last year. To boot, they were the dominant format for trade titles, a category that includes adult and children's works. Meanwhile, printed books declined 34 percent and 16 percent in those respective areas, with gentler, single-digit drops for education and religious titles. 

The Conversation Continues....

Abilene Christian University hosted the Connected Summit 2011 in February. Steve Wozniak, Karen Cator and Adrian Sannier were featured keynote speakers. The sessions from the summit have been posted to ACU's iTunes U channel, and are now available for your viewing pleasure!

Be sure to tune into Track 3: The Future of Books, facilitated by Bill Rankin, Ph.D., Director of Educational Innovation, Abilene Christian University.

Presentations include: "Moving from Digital Books (PDFs) to eTextbooks: What a True eTextbook Should Look Like," "iPad or iFad: The Reality of a Paperless Classroom," "Chapter 0: How 20 Freshmen Created Their Own Electronic Text" and "Building for the Next Information Age: Envisioning the Future of Books"... just to name a few.

e-Book Sales up 116% from last year

A recent report from the Association of American Publishers states:

Figures for the first month of the new year show that E-book net sales increased by 115.8% vs January 2010 (from $32.4 Million to $69.9M). Sales of Downloadable Audio Books also rose by 8.8% vs the previous year ($6.0M to $6.5M). As AAP reported last month in its December 2010 monthly report and full 2010 analysis, E-book sales have increased annually and significantly in all nine years of tracking the category.

Read the full report at http://www.publishers.org/press/28/

Inkling Lands Funding for eTextbooks

According to BusinessWire, both McGraw-Hill and Pearson have committed to building interactive editions of their top titles for the Inkling platform, after securing significant minority investments from these "two largest educational content providers in the world."

From the article:

Textbooks on Inkling’s platform are built from the ground up for multi-touch devices like iPad, bringing a level of engagement and learning that’s impossible with flat reproductions of print books. Students love the rich interactivity, self quizzes, easy search and annotation tools, and the ability to buy by the chapter, saving them money. Professors like that Inkling textbooks drive better student engagement and achievement without requiring any change in instruction. Plus, social collaboration among students and between professor and student opens doors to entirely new ways to learn.

Today, Inkling is partnering with top publishers to produce their most popular textbooks spanning business school, medical school, and undergraduate curricula for 2011. Content commitments now include:

• The top 100 undergraduate titles from McGraw-Hill Higher Education
• A comprehensive MBA curriculum, featuring 24 of the most popular business titles, from Pearson Education
• A full line of medical textbooks, featuring Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, an imprint of Wolters Kluwer Health
• Top undergraduate arts and sciences titles from Pearson Education
• Top medical education and reference content from McGraw-Hill Professional

(Image credit: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20110323005569/en/2271459/Inkling-Secures-Major-Investment-Top-Education-Companies)

BlueFire Reader for Adobe DRM eBooks

Today I borrowed an e-book from my local public library. Our library uses "My Media Mall" to manage e-borrowing. Library patrons can reserve a book, and when it's available, receive an email stating the book will be available for download for 3 days. Once downloaded, it is accessible for 14-days (Adobe Digital Editions is needed to read the DRM-protected book). Books can not be renewed, but patrons can request the title again, and get in the queue for the next available copy.

After downloading the book to my computer, I was not sure how to transfer it to my iPad. A bit of online research revealed "BlueFire Reader" which authenticates with an Adobe ID.  eBooks can then be "side-loaded" onto the iPad BlueFire Reader using iTunes.

From the website http://www.bluefirereader.com:

Bluefire Reader is built on the Adobe® digital publishing platform, the most widely used eBook distribution system. Our Adobe Reader Mobile based application supports ePUB and PDF content, including files protected by Adobe® Content Server encryption technology. Adobe® Reader Mobile is the industry standard for eReader devices and applications that support ePUB and PDF content.

Bluefire Reader integrates rich catalog presentation features, including in-app and web-based purchasing. You can also take advantage of Bluefire's advanced Open Publication Distribution System (OPDS) Services to make the creation and management of your book catalogs easier than ever before.