Petitioning publishers

wmaurer · 10-05-2007, 09:39 AM

Hello all

First post here on MobileRead. Great forum. I'm looking forward to purchasing a ebook reader at some stage, possibly the Cybook. At the moment, I've got a few dictionaries, etc on my HTC P3300.

Has anybody successfully convinced a publisher to release one of their books in digital format? There are very many books that I want that aren't available as ebooks; at the moment I'm looking for four in particular:
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses
Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar
Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary

These are all published by McGraw Hill, and I've found a few books in a similar series on MobiPocket. I've sent McGraw Hill an email, but am I wasting my time or have others here had success?

Wayne

HarryT · 10-05-2007, 11:27 AM

Do you honestly think that books like this would useful on the CyBook? It doesn't have any kind of "Search" facility. How useful would they be without that?

NatCh · 10-05-2007, 12:22 PM

Setting aside particular titles -- there have been reports here of publishers responding favorably to such requests, but they were most likely preceded by a lot of similar requests which the pubs blew off -- it's evidently a lengthy process to sway their opinions on the matter.

da_jane · 10-05-2007, 01:38 PM

You need to petition the author - that is what I heard from the digital heads.

hello · 10-06-2007, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you honestly think that books like this would useful on the CyBook? It doesn't have any kind of "Search" facility. How useful would they be without that?

did you ever touch a dictionary back in the days?

HarryT · 10-06-2007, 07:39 AM

My point is that the current crop of book readers are really designed as "fiction" readers, where you simply read a book from start to finish. They work very poorly with reference books, where you generally want to look up something specific, rather than read it from cover to cover.

hello · 10-06-2007, 09:50 AM

if you can enter a page number yo u can referenc e it.

CommanderROR · 10-06-2007, 09:56 AM

@hello

You have been warned several times by different members of staff...consider this your last friendly warning before we hand this over to the Admin.
Your strange use of the [SPACE] key is just annoying and does not add anything useful to your posts. Just let it be or leave.
Thanks.

tribble · 10-06-2007, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hello

did you ever touch a dictionary back in the days?

Have you ever tried to skim through a book on an eink device nowadays?

hello · 10-06-2007, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

@hello

You have been warned several times by different members of staff...consider this your last friendly warning before we hand this over to the Admin.
Your strange use of the [SPACE] key is just annoying and does not add anything useful to your posts. Just let it be or leave.
Thanks.

so if it seems to be in your interest an admin ca n appea r, and when i politely ask something to be looked after im only a minority and that doesnt care. good luck gentlemen.

CommanderROR · 10-06-2007, 10:56 AM

I have no idea what you wanted "looked after", so I can't respond to that in any meaningful way...

If you want to talk about this in more detail, then feel free to contact me by PM...otherwise I'll leave the rest to Alexander since my powers as Editor don't include "banning" or other serious measures.

wmaurer · 10-08-2007, 08:30 AM

Okay, thanks for the replies. I have since noticed that the McGraw Hill 'Practice Makes Perfect' books that have been published in digital format are all recent publications, so it seems as if they're setting a precedent, which is good, even if it's annoying that older titles can't be obtained electronically.

Yes Harry, I agree, that these types of reference books may not be well suited to use with an e-reader. I can only hope that that any digital version would have a very good table of contents to make navigation as easy as possible.

Regardless, I'd still buy the books electronically as the reason for my intent to buy an e-reader is because I will be embarking on a pan-Americas cycle tour next year (18 months, Alaska to Argentina), and can't be carrying around a large pile of heavy tomes. I'll be continuing my Spanish studies whilst on the road in Canada and the U.S. hence my search for the above titles.

-Wayne

10-05-2007, 09:39 AM	#1
wmaurer Enthusiast Posts: 44 Karma: 100 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Nook Simple Touch, HTC Desire	Petitioning publishers Hello all First post here on MobileRead. Great forum. I'm looking forward to purchasing a ebook reader at some stage, possibly the Cybook. At the moment, I've got a few dictionaries, etc on my HTC P3300. Has anybody successfully convinced a publisher to release one of their books in digital format? There are very many books that I want that aren't available as ebooks; at the moment I'm looking for four in particular: Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary These are all published by McGraw Hill, and I've found a few books in a similar series on MobiPocket. I've sent McGraw Hill an email, but am I wasting my time or have others here had success? Wayne

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10-05-2007, 11:27 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Do you honestly think that books like this would useful on the CyBook? It doesn't have any kind of "Search" facility. How useful would they be without that?

10-05-2007, 12:22 PM	#3
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Setting aside particular titles -- there have been reports here of publishers responding favorably to such requests, but they were most likely preceded by a lot of similar requests which the pubs blew off -- it's evidently a lengthy process to sway their opinions on the matter.

10-05-2007, 01:38 PM	#4
da_jane Evangelist Posts: 405 Karma: 692 Join Date: Sep 2006 Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 \| Kindle Paperwhite \| iPad Mini	You need to petition the author - that is what I heard from the digital heads.

10-06-2007, 07:39 AM	#6
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	My point is that the current crop of book readers are really designed as "fiction" readers, where you simply read a book from start to finish. They work very poorly with reference books, where you generally want to look up something specific, rather than read it from cover to cover.

10-06-2007, 09:50 AM	#7
hello Custom User Title Posts: 55 Karma: 26 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Yes Device: Nokia 5130	if you can enter a page number yo u can referenc e it.

10-06-2007, 09:56 AM	#8
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	@hello You have been warned several times by different members of staff...consider this your last friendly warning before we hand this over to the Admin. Your strange use of the [SPACE] key is just annoying and does not add anything useful to your posts. Just let it be or leave. Thanks.

10-06-2007, 10:56 AM	#11
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	I have no idea what you wanted "looked after", so I can't respond to that in any meaningful way... If you want to talk about this in more detail, then feel free to contact me by PM...otherwise I'll leave the rest to Alexander since my powers as Editor don't include "banning" or other serious measures.

10-08-2007, 08:30 AM	#12
wmaurer Enthusiast Posts: 44 Karma: 100 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Nook Simple Touch, HTC Desire	Okay, thanks for the replies. I have since noticed that the McGraw Hill 'Practice Makes Perfect' books that have been published in digital format are all recent publications, so it seems as if they're setting a precedent, which is good, even if it's annoying that older titles can't be obtained electronically. Yes Harry, I agree, that these types of reference books may not be well suited to use with an e-reader. I can only hope that that any digital version would have a very good table of contents to make navigation as easy as possible. Regardless, I'd still buy the books electronically as the reason for my intent to buy an e-reader is because I will be embarking on a pan-Americas cycle tour next year (18 months, Alaska to Argentina), and can't be carrying around a large pile of heavy tomes. I'll be continuing my Spanish studies whilst on the road in Canada and the U.S. hence my search for the above titles. -Wayne