November '03 Tools

An “eBook” or “e-Book” is an electronic version of a book. The term eBook applies to published materials that have been converted into digital format for electronic distribution. Many popular titles you see in the bookstore are available instantly online as eBooks.

The advantage of eBooks...

The great advantage of eBooks is that they are available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week - from the convenience of your own computer or PDA. eBooks usually feature an embedded dictionary, a linked Table of Contents, and easy keyword searchability. Often eBooks are less expensive than the paper version of the same book.
.
Most eBooks are made to be downloaded from a Web site and read on a computer or PDA using special eBook reading software or a dedicated handheld device specifically for eBooks (such as the Franklin eBookman readers).

Where to find eBooks...

A number of Web sites offer free eBook titles. These usually are classics or self-published eBooks. One of best sources of free eBooks is the University of Virginia Free eBook Library at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks. Project Gutenberg at http://gutenberg.net is the Internet's oldest producer of Free electronic books.
..
There are dozens of commercial Web sites that specialize in various categories of eBooks, many offering electronic versions of current popular titles. netLibrary (http://www.netlibrary.com/index.asp) offers more than 37,000 eBook titles, with subjects ranging from arts, history, literature, religion, science, sociology, business, and technology, to Academic, Public and Corporate Libraries. Also, commercial online booksellers, such as Barnes and Nobel (http://www.bn.com) and Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com) now offer eBooks.

How to read eBooks...

All eBooks cannot be read on all computers and eBook reading appliances. There are several competing formats for eBooks. Each requires specific eBook reader software.

Commercial publishers are now making their eBook titles available in formats that can be read using the most popular readers - Microsoft Reader, Adobe eBook Reader (and Acrobat Reader). Some providers of eBook content, such as Gemstar and goReader, require dedicated eBook reading appliances as well.

Currently there are several different eBook formats in use:

- Isilo, from http://www.isilo.com, runs on Palm Pilots, PocketPC devices, and Windows. They have a free reader, and a commercial version for about $19.99.
- Acrobat is Adobe's PDF format, which can be read on anything. It's not the best option for a Palm/PocketPC device as PDF files can get quite large.
- MS-Reader is Microsoft's eBook format for PocketPCs and Windows desktops.
- Rocket eBook works on the old Rocket Ebook, as well as some of the Gemstar family of devices.
- Mobipocket, from http://www.Mobipocket.com, is the fastest-growing eBook format and works on everything from Palm to Mac to Linux, everything Windows, and even the Franklin Ebookman.

You can easily get free copies of popular eBook readers:

- Free copies of Adobe eBook Reader and Acrobat Reader software for Windows, Apple Macintosh and other operating systems can be downloaded from the Adobe Web site at http://www.adobe.com/epaper
- A free copy of the Microsoft Reader with ClearType for Windows-based desktop and laptop PCs can be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/reader
- A free copy of the Palm Reader for handheld devices running the Palm OS can be downloaded from the Peanut Press Web site at http://www.peanutpress.com.

You can be an eBook author...

If you would like to produce and sell your own eBook, you'll need to purchase authoring software and probably maintain a Web site with an e-commerce package. Most eBook authoring software will accept manuscripts created in popular word-processing applications such as Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. To create eBooks in PDF format, you should use an application like Adobe PageMaker, Adobe InDesign or Quark Xpress. A number of companies have sprung up in recent years that will convert manuscripts to eBook formats for a fee. Like traditional vanity-press publishers, some of these companies also will market your eBook for a fee and/or a percentage of the gross sales.