E-books FEATURE
‘Thankfully, several of our authors are keen to embrace and learn with us and we’re working closely with them to help realise some of the ideas for multimedia, whether this is using functionality in HTML5 or more bespoke solutions.’
Palgrave Macmillian’s Hazel Newton agrees
that, when it comes to issues such as interactive content, purchasing models, open access and digital rights management, publishers are still learning what their customers want. ‘We’re always exploring and experimenting with new purchasing models,’ she said. ‘In 2013 we launched a ‘Build Your Own Collection’ model in response to requests from our customers. This allows them to customise their own collections instead of buying pre-made packages. Librarians are still working out the best models for them, and there is no general consensus.’
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Formats for interactivity The same can still be said for formats, because the increasing number of devices available makes it difficult for publishers to choose which formats to go for. Most publishers offer their e-books as PDFs, but several also offer EPUB and HTML formats. ‘Researchers and students tell us how much they love the PDF, but we are seeing an increasing number of people use the EPUB format, which is a more flexible format and suitable for use on tablets and smartphones,’ said Newton. ‘Including interactive content isn’t easy because ensuring compatibility for all readers is tricky. However, this is something we are actively investigating and, as an experiment, we have published one title with an embedded video file in it.’ SAGE published its first interactive e-book in 2010 and has been experimenting with
subsequent titles ever since. Ziyad Marar, global publishing director at SAGE, told Research Information: ‘Enabling interactivity is becoming easier as major platforms such as Apple and Kno release authoring tools that enable publishers to add interactivity to their digital texts. As platforms adopt the EPUB3 format, publishers have additional options for the creation of interactive e-books.’ Springer,
which calls itself an ‘e-first
publisher’ because all of its books are included in its e-book programme, is also experimenting with interactive content. ‘Interactive books are an exciting option and we’ve launched a pilot programme with our German textbooks,’ said Jennifer Kemp, e-product manager for e-books. Called SmartBooks, the range contains 15 titles on a variety of subjects including industrial microbiology, psychology and marketing. Each
APRIL/MAY 2014 Research Information 17
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