Ebooks are on everyone’s mind, it seems. Next week I’ll have at least two articles on ebooks and the ebook business, including an interview I conducted on Friday with Joshua Tallent of Ebookarchitects. It’s 32 minutes packed with information you can use, so don’t miss it.
In the meantime, here are four videos you may not have seen, each with its own angle on ebooks and ebook readers. It’s Saturday, grab your favorite beverage and watch along. It will only take about 17 minutes to watch all four.
An Introduction to Google eBooks
The cloud-centric, device-independent way to read ebooks. This short video makes it clear exactly what Google has in mind and why they will be a force in ebooks in the future.
Kevin Rose Suggests Ways to Improve Ebooks
The founder of Digg sees lots of ways to make our ereaders more fun, functional and social. Although a few of these ideas have already been adopted, you may find yourself hoping that the Apple and Kindle developers are paying attention.
Free Ebooks Online
Touch of Wisdom: Three Sources of Free Ebooks Online shows how to access millions of free ebooks
Inside the ePub File
Jeremy Kemp from San Jose State University explains what’s in an ePub file so anyone can understand it. Using visual aids that could have come from a primary school classroom, everyone can follow along.
Photo by Pen Waggener
Joel,
A great 17-minute interruption in the middle of writing a book! I’m still a bit mystified about Google ebooks, so I will check out their link. Not sure if my books are already there or they have special hoops to leap through.
The epub code information was interesting, though it’s most geek to me. At least I’ll be able to look and see where my mistakes are hiding.
Thanks for picking those four out.
Great videos. Being new to the industry, epub seems like the most popular format. However, Kevin Rose’s rich media vision seems inevitable, and epub does not support either sound or video.
Mark, I think the coming ePub 3 specification will be much more robust when it comes to handling multimedia content.
Fantastic article with helpful video’s.
Good stuff, This is the new or old frontier. Count me in.
Thanks for the good work.
Slightly off subject: why don’t you recommend New Times Roman font?
Also: is 12 point too large for a 6×9 interior?
Thank you.
Roemer, Times New Roman was designed for use in newspapers and does a passable but not great job in business reports. Other typefaces have been designed for books and work much better. Doing comparisons of your own material is the best way to pick what you prefer. Try some of the typefaces here:
5 Favorite Typefaces for Book Design
I liked the way you explained how to use e books and where to find them . my website is also a place where you can buy severl how to ebooks.
As usual, Joel delivers useful, timely information for those with a thirst for knowledge about an evolving transformation in our world. The channel is nothing less than how we obtain information and reading pleasure.
This blog is one of the very best and is a “Must Read” for me, just as is my morning newspaper and my TV morning show. Make it part of your day!
Cliff
Cliff, you’re very kind, thanks for being at the other end.