ebook 101

This page is designed to give the reader a general overview and brief synopsis of ebooks. It covers the basics and a little more. As we sail towards a more electronic information based society, edocuments and ebooks will continue to take on a more important roll in our lives. Ebooks have changed, and taken on many new dimensions, over the past five years. They will continue to do so at an ever increasing rate. Take a moment to read the basics and get up to speed on the new wave of book reading and publishing.

e-book or ebook
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: electronic book; any book published in electronic or digital form; also written ebook 1

History of ebooks:
Computer Technology has led to the development of the electronic book or e-book. The ebook combines the storage, search capabilities, and adaptability of a computer with the simulated page format of a traditional book. Early versions of ebooks appeared in the late 1990s. By 2000, thousands of books were being digitized.

What are ebooks?
eBooks offer a new facet to the written word, allowing books to be circulated and enjoyed so much more easily. eBooks are books that are in digital format. eBooks can be ordered online, and delivered electronically to your computer or you can order one or more ebooks on CD. You save money with no shipping, no taxes, and low prices when you order on line and have them delivered to your computer via email.
Adobe, the leader in ebook technology says: eBooks are electronic versions of books that can be viewed on a computer screen. Publishers, libraries, and retailers can now produce, manage, and distribute eBooks to anyone on any computer running Microsoft® Windows® or Mac OS software. Because Adobe® eBook software is based on the widely distributed Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) technology; you can now deliver eBooks with high visual fidelity in a way that fits your existing workflow. And, thanks to digital rights management features, lending eBooks for reading offline is now just as easy as selling them. Adobe.com also offers this .pdf ebook titled, "Why choose Adobe PDF ebooks." 2

Paper or Electronic what's the difference?
eBooks have many features that traditional paper books do not; the author / epublsiher has the freedom to control the look and feel of the eBook through fonts, colors, images, and in some cases, bookmarks, notes and annotations from the author.

Why Portable Document Format?
Using PDF allows the reader to view the document the same way the author wants the work to look because PDF operates on an independent platform format. (This means they are viewable on any machine regardless of operating system.) PDF also allows precise viewing and printing control, and built in security. Portability is also a major consideration for using the PDF format. ebooks are not just for your PC! With the advent and common use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's) you may also carry your eBooks anywhere with you on your PDA. Some ebooks can be printed. You are then able to print the entire book using your printer and flip all the paper pages you desire. PDF's are an excellent format to manage very large and complex documents. "One of the best reasons to use Portable Document Format is cost effectiveness. Consider that a typical 700 MB CD-ROM can store approximately 90,000 PDF pages, and costs approximately $1 to create (when produced in quantity.) Operating costs for a standard computer printer range from $0.015 to $0.03 per page. Therefore, the 90,000 PDF pages that can be stores on CD for $1 would cost between $1350 and $2700 to print once!" 3 The cost savings to the epublisher, author, and consumer are enormous! For detailed information on the advantages of using PDF, read PDF Revealed, The Electronic Document Management Revolution (White Paper November 2002) by ActivePDF.[.pdf download]

Other types of ebooks:
Plain Text
No special reader software required. Can be read on any type of computer using any operating system. Use Notepad or WordPad or Microsoft Word or anything similar that's capable of reading .txt files.
HTML
No special eBook readers or devices required. You can enjoy HTML eBooks with the browser already installed on your computer. Hypertext navigation - just like what you're already used to on web pages. Clean, easy to read text.
Smaller file sizes, very easy to use.

Ebook Readers:
PDF and other format ebooks can be read with Macintosh and Windows computers, ebook readers, as well as PDAs. Page navigation, multiple viewing options, bookmarks, and search features are included. Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) is the open de facto standard for electronic distribution worldwide. PDF files are compact and can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed (if allowed by the publisher). For information on many more types of ebooks visit: About Ebooks. 4

Is there a definitive resource on ebooks?
Ebooks.org is a web site that is a noncommercial repository of information related to e-book research and products. The organization encourages the sharing and analysis of ideas surrounding e-book reading appliances to create an accurate understanding of their possibilities and limitations. 5

I want to check out ebooks before I buy. Where can I download full size ebooks free of charge?
Why not sail over to World's Largest eBook Consortia. It is housed in World eBook Library Multi-Terabyte server network is the world's largest digital archive of PDF eBooks and eDocuments. Their collection hosts more than 60,000 PDF eBooks and eDocuments. Seek the public ebooks search function. This search engine offers over 27,000 free HTML ebooks at no charge. 6

The ebooks you purchase through DPebooks are fully copyrighted. 7 Although you may print some of our books for your own use, you may not duplicate our books for redistribution. You may not send a digital copy of the ebook to your friend. You may consult The Digital Millennium Act of 1998 [.pdf download] for further legal details concerning ebooks and digital documents. In brief, it was designed to "facilitate the robust development and worldwide expansion of electronic commerce, communications, research, development, and education in the digital age."8 We appreciate the way our readers honor our copyrights by forwarding to their friends the link to our site and thus assisting in the support of our authors' efforts.

Anyone who has written a book that is not under contract for publication with another firm may submit that work to DPebooks for consideration and possible inclusion in our catalog. Although it is possible to purchase the service of having your book converted to ebook format by our professional staff, we reserve the right to determine whether the book in question fits the profile of work selected for the DPebooks Label.

As the cost of paper printing continues to rise, digital format books are an attractive alternative to consumers and authors alike. With low distribution costs, the books are priced at about half the cost of their paper counterparts, but authors receive a much higher percentage of the cover price.

I am an author and want to know about the ebook design and creation process. Where can I get more information?
Feel free to download Dread Pirate ebooks ebook FAQ .pdf . It answers most of the basic questions. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us via email.