Expert Interview: Claire Cameron speaks to EPS about the E-textbook market
Electronic Publishing Services Ltd, have published a report titled E-textbooks: Their place in the undergraduate content mix.
Published: September 2003
The authors: Sharon Cooper, Independent Consultant and Nick Dempsey, Analyst,
EPS
Clients of the EPS Market Intelligence and Advisory Service receive monthly Focus Reports within a package of e-mailed briefings and direct access to analysts. This includes daily strategic comment about information publishing markets.
Interview Extract
Is there a distinction between an e-book and an e-textbook? If so, what is it?
An e-book is a product which reproduces print-based content in a digital format with added functions like searchability and the ability for the user to annotate the content. An e-textbook at present is really a companion web site or collection of online content from a textbook publisher, and tends to provide supplementary content that is in addition to what appears in the print textbook. In the best examples, a publisher considers the strengths of the internet (interactivity, links, etc) vs. the strengths of print (reading and understanding core concepts) and leverages each medium accordingly, and so as to ensure that the two services are complementary. These services are pedagogically-driven, rather than simply replicating the print content of a text product.
What are publishers doing to use e-books and companion web sites to differentiate themselves amongst their competitors?
This area has changed a great deal in the past few years - a few years ago, the market was impressed if you had a web site. Now, however, adopters have come to assume the presence of a web site, and are increasingly looking at two things, the quality of the content and the services on offer.
It is no longer enough, for example, to have “20 test questions per chapter”. Now the conversation is focusing on the pedagogy – what happens when a student gets a wrong answer? What kind of feedback do they get and does the feedback guide them to a place to revise? This should enable publishers to compete effectively on areas in which they have expertise.
How do publishers control access to their companion sites? Do they want it only to be for registered users or genuine book purchasers or are they not concerned as long as the book brand is established?
Most publishers want to control access to their web sites, the real question is can they demonstrate enough value to ensure customers will subscribe? There is a trend (as mentioned above) for focusing on the student use – moving the web site from a recommended resources to a required part of the course is often the key to demonstrating value to students.
Most sites remain free to use at the present time unless they provide a pure e-textbook offering. The trend is towards subscriptions and passwords (similar to the newspaper marketplace). The free sites increasingly demand passwords from both lecturers and students – these are often to be found on cards inside the print textbooks.