e-text availability

[TheAntiChick]

The biggest obstacle I see to this is that few e-texts seem to be available.  This kind of service is invaluable for lots of students - especially law students and other disciplines that require tons of reference material.  I've been looking forward to this since I heard about it, because I already use a netbook for all my notes for classes.

However, I just checked, and no text I need next semester is available.  I am also trying to get into nursing school, and I don't see a large number of THOSE texts available.

What's the best way to get feedback to B&N and/or publishers to publish as e-text?

[RJGro17]

You too? I was so looking forward to not having to carry heavy books around, but I noticed that none of the books I need for my 1st semester of college are in an e-textbook form either. I am disappointed beyond belief. This application was supposed to make college easier on students, but it's turning out to be a pain! NOOKstudy advertised over 500,000 free e-textbooks, but I can't seem to find a single one out there.

[Jeanne_Belin]

Hi!

The best way to submit requests for textbooks to be available in NOOKstudy (for now), is to send an email to NOOKstudycontent@book.com. We’ll keep you posted as to additional ways to submit requests as they become available.

Include as much as the following data elements as possible:

• Full title
• Edition
• Author(s)
• Publisher
• Either 10 or 13 ISBN (Print)
• Copyright year

Please note that we will consolidate requests received and work with the publishers to make the eTextbooks available as soon as reasonable.  We cannot promise that the requests will be fulfilled since it is up to the publishers to make the determination of which of their titles they want to be available in NOOKstudy. We also cannot provide target dates – again, because we are reliant on the publishers. We can promise that we will do everything we can to make as many titles available in NOOKstudy as possible.

~Jeanne

[Jeanne_Belin]

NOOKstudy advertised over 500,000 free eBooks -- not eTextbooks -- there's a difference. :-) These refer to the Google public-domain titles.

~Jeanne

[TheAntiChick]

Thanks for the info, Jeanne.

I don't want to be pedantic, I just want to do this in the most effective manner.    So, is it easiest for B&N to work with one email per book request, or would one email with a list of books be better?  I'm a computer geek by trade, so I'm happy to compile a spreadsheet or whatever will be the most effective to give feedback to B&N to start working with the publishers.

I've been waiting for e-textbooks for years now, I think it's a fabulous move, and hope the publishers get on board quickly.  My daughter, 13, gets aching neck and shoulders from hauling so many books every day... someday when all books are delivered this way, she can just carry a small laptop!! 

[edUcateMS]

another way to pursue the avenue of getting etextbook available is to contact the publisher directly as well as BN.   Here's a post from the Ebook discussion forum:     Essentially, it suggests that B&N expects the publisher to get the file ready for BN's use.

Why does Amazon have it but nobody else? 

• Every so often I see a book on Amazon that I would love to read, but I can't find it elsewhere. Most of the time, I find out the publisher and send them an email. Today I got an interesting response from one ...

"

Thank you for your interest in our digital books. 

We are currently working to convert more books for the Nook ebook reader, but as is apparent, there is a large offering already available for kindle.  Amazon has taken it upon themselves to convert the files to their format, thus being extremely proactive in regards to ebooks and expanding their offerings.  Barnes and Noble is asking publishers to convert the files to epub format first and then send them to BN to be made available for the Nook.   Because of the costs for conversion involved, the offerings available at BN will be less than Amazon for the foreseeable future. 

At this time, we are not selling ebooks directly.

Mary Molegraaf

Baker Publishing Group"

[Jeanne_Belin]

Actually, you pose a good question.

One email, with a list of textbooks, would be best.  Feel free to use either Word or Excel for your list - - we can work with any format.

Re your daughter ... yes, carrying a small laptop instead of a heavy stack of textbooks would be ideal.  That's what my daughter is planning (she starts college this month).

[sassylibrarian]

Can you provide instructions for finding those free texts and reading them with Nook Study? In other words, once we have found a free text via Google, how do we get it into Nook Study?

[Jeanne_Belin]

Hi. You may find free eBooks by going here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/free-ebooks/379001668/?cds2pid=29168 and clicking on the “Get Free eBook” button.

Likewise, if you search for a book on http://books.google.com/ and see a “PDF download” link (should be on the right side, then you’d download the PDF and then drag & drop it into the application.  See example: Bulletin of Bibliography, Volume 3 (http://books.google.com/books?id=yltBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA101&dq=free+books&hl=en&ei=mVhcTNX3DMH78Abu5_nZAg...)

If you do not see a “PDF download” link, then search for that particular title on www.bn.com.

~Jeanne