Posts Tagged ‘ebook’

Get Smart and Inspired with Back to School Books

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

With back-to-school right around the corner, we thought this would be a great time to introduce some terrific books to dive into before the first bell goes off.

Reader’s Digest just introduced their series of popular and fun reference books in e-book format. Be the smarty-pants of the family at any time or place with a wealth of facts from art, literature, and history to geography, science, and math at your fingertips on your tablet, e-reader, or smartphone.

My Grammar and I… Or Should That Be Me? How to Speak and Write It Right by J.A. Wines and Caroline Taggart

Sharpen your language skills and navigate your way around grammatical minefields with this entertaining and practical guide. For anyone who has ever been stumped by dangling modifiers and split infinitives, or for those who have no idea what these things even are, My Grammar and I…Or Should That Be Me? offers practical and humorous guidance on how to avoid falling into language pitfalls.

Write (Or Is That “Right?”) Every Time: Cool Ways to Improve Your English by Lottie Stride

Whether you’re writing a report or a creative essay, the more you understand about the workings of the English language, the better you’ll do. Write (Or Is That “Right”?) Every Time provides a fun-and-easy way to tackle tenses, sort out spelling slip-ups, put a full stop to punctuation problems, and conquer clauses.

I Wish I Knew That: Cool Stuff You Need to Know by Steve Martin, Mike Goldsmith, Ph.D., and Marianne Taylor

Have you ever been excited to find out you knew something others didn’t? With I Wish I Knew That you’ll learn fascinating tidbits — on everything from art, literature, and history to geography, science, and math — from just one quick-and-easy read crammed with fun and cool stuff.

The entire collection of Reader’s Digest eBooks are available on major digital formats including iPad/iPhone, Nook, and Kindle.

We’re really excited to share The End Of Molasses Classes with teachers and parents out there. The inspirational book by New York Times bestselling author Ron Clark from the Ron Clark Academy will electrify dull learning environments everywhere with a wealth of innovative tips and techniques for both inside and outside the classroom.

The End Of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck–101 Extraordinary Solutions For Parents and Teachers by Ron Clark

Practical, innovative, and powerful methods to enliven classrooms and ignite a passion for learning in each and every child. It is time to “GET ON THE DESK” and make every school in America the absolute best it can be. These are the 101 most successful strategies we have used to help uplift our children and enliven our classrooms.

The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck–101 Extraordinary Solutions For Parents and Teachers from Simon & Schuster is available on Barnes & Noble and Amazon in hardcover, audio, and e-book editions.

The start of the school year also means kids will be busy with clubs, activities, and friends. Keeping in touch with them can be quite a challenge for parents as can be seen in the humor-filled book on digital disconnects in the family, When Parents Text by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli.

When Parents Text: So Much Said… So Little Understood by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli

A collection of insanely funny texts between parents and kids, When Parents Text is a surprisingly affecting window into the complicated time when parents aren’t ready to let go, and kids aren’t ready to be let go. Launched as a website just last year, www.whenparentstext.com is a phenomenon.

When Parents Text: So Much Said… So Little Understood from Workman Publishing Company is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

RIP Hardcovers … Long Live the Kindle

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

By Fauzia Burke

I wonder if manufacturing hardcover books makes sense anymore? In talking with fellow publishing friends, we agree that the current publishing model is not ideal. For example, selling books essentially on consignment, taking huge returns, giving advances that don’t earn out, not having enough marketing dollars, all create huge challenges to the current model. The biggest threat to this model is not the e-book or the Internet, it is the hardcover book.

As a Kindle user I am noticing more and more that I am no longer buying hardcover books. I recently realized that I may never need to buy a hardcover book again, and this is shocking to me! I love books! My husband and I are “book people” — we have worked with books all of our careers. Like all us book people, we have huge bookshelves creaking under the weight of their contents. We have books in our bedroom, under our sofa, in our bathroom. I buy books every week and yet I still find myself wondering if I need to buy a hardcover.

I will, of course, never stop reading or buying books, but I now prefer to download them on my Kindle. Not that the experience of Kindle reading is better than the physical book. (It’s certainly not for me.) I do miss the paper and the feel of a book in my hands, but these days the convenience of a Kindle often dictates my decision. I love the convenience of having multiple books at my disposal. I love the fact that I don’t have to worry about how big or heavy a book is before I decide where I will read it. I love the fact that I can download a book the moment I want to read it. I recently downloaded a book on the train for my ride home. I am just never giving up that convenience. Clearly I am not alone as Amazon enjoyed a “69% surge in third-quarter profit, led by strong sales of its Kindle e-reader [in 2009]” according to CNN Money.

So I wonder, if a person like me won’t buy a hardcover, how soon before no one does? Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers said in a recent WSJ interview that “hardcover sales in the industry are down 15%.” I have a small office. There are eight of us working together, and three of us have Kindles. All three of us are buying more ebooks than hardcovers. Even here, in my office, the publishing model is changing. We do not require book publishers to provide us with expensive book jackets, paper, transportation, warehouse storage, or bookstore space. We do ask for their word that the book is good, and worth our time and money.

How much energy and money can we save if we stop publishing hardcovers? Book publishing is not dying, it’s evolving. We need good editors and publishers more than ever to show us the best ideas, polish them, and give us books to think about and talk about.