Another facet of e-books: Self-publishing
It struck me last night that one really important topic we haven’t yet addressed – from a venture side – is self-publishing e-books. My understanding is that a number of prominent bloggers have self-published e-books, which they sell through their websites (payment is usually through paypal). Some of these authors, such as Chris Guillebeau who has published some Unconventional Guides and Danielle Laporte who self-published The Spark Kit, have since landed book contracts with larger publishing houses.
Lulu is one company that facilitates self-publishing – and they have an education division.
I think that one compelling educational use would be to have learners self-publishing. This is of course a small step away from educational blogging.
Posted in: Week 06: eBooks
kstooshnov 9:07 pm on October 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you for bringing up this topic, Allie,
One recent success story for the eBook format in publishing comes from the 2010 Giller Prize winner, The Sentimentalist by Johanna Skibsrud. Of course, it wasn’t intended to be the hottest selling electronic text, as the novel was originally handcrafted by a small town publisher, Gaspereau Press, could only release so many copies. When the novel was selected by the national literary award, big time publishing house Douglas & McIntyre stepped in, and eBook editions were the most convenient way to get this story into the hands of eager readers from sea to shining sea. One wrinkle in this story might be that if the story had been originally released as an eBook, it would not have been noticed by judges and the general population.
It would also be good to consider how students could get in on the creation of eBooks. Perhaps there will be some students, as they become more familiar with the features of enhanced editions, whose writing takes off in this evolving format. And what better way to get the class involved with a writing project than to have peer reviews, similar to Goodread’s stars and comments, posted on-line. It would be more engaging than stapling together handwritten loose-leaf paper and pinning them to the school’s notice board. Being able to blog well is a more relevant skill than drawing an eye-catching title page, and will become more of a focus in 21st century classrooms.
jenaca 5:05 am on October 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hey Allie,
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I didn’t really think such a thing was possible, but I think it would be a great way to get learners excited about writing and help motivate them! How neat would that be to create a classroom book online through this process!
Jenaca
Angela Novoa 12:18 pm on October 14, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hy Allie, as Jenaca I did not think about this issue. But it is relevant. It would be interesting to think about students and self-publishing. I think we would gain wonderful learning experiences.