Enriched eBooks - The next big thing in education?

With tablets booming in the consumer market over the last couple of years, a lot of the companies are marketing the device as multi-touch, media enriched and so on. A device that gives revolutionary reading experience sounds all very attractive but are publishers rising up to the opportunity?

A number of eBook creation platform are providing the chance to add more media to your simple text layout. And although the technology isn’t perfected, we as consumers are already accepting this as the norm and applying it to use in our knowledge consumption.

Whether it’s a magazine with additional links and embedded videos or a school textbook with animated characters, we are expecting it all from a purchased eBook. Then why hasn’t this taken off yet?

According to DBW media rich eBooks aren’t compelling enough yet to get the readers…well reading.

On the other hand, more articles are talking about kids between 6 and 17 taking to interactive content on tablets like fish to water.  

It is evident that kids and academic institutes stand to benefit the most from use of these new innovative ways of learning, keeping their target engaged. However, from a quick look around the internet it is obvious that the support material transforming an ebook into a media enriched book is lacking leaving a gaping market to be as yet fulfilled.

DHA trains medical professionals from private schools

Dubai Health Authority has organized a series of mandatory training courses to ensure health education standards are maintained in schools and colleges in Dubai.

The Health Regulation department met with 160 representatives from private schools to discuss school health policies and latest standards for school clinics. The mandatory courses for medical professionals in school clinics include first aid and emergency care as well as ‘Paediatric-up-to-date programme’.

Speaking to Gulf News, Amal Ali Al Mehrezi, Head of School Health at the Authority, said, “Children are the most receptive, yet vulnerable section of society. By ensuring their health, we are ensuring our future. In the programme, we are going to train medical staff on basic life support, first aid, and on how to handle health conditions like food or insect allergy reactions, asthma, diabetes, etc. The training will look into different kinds of care required in a school setting.”

To ensure only licensed professionals can provide health education in schools, DHA has ensured providers have to first get the correct requisitions from the Authority.

eFADA to group UAE's academic e-resources

UAE’s education sector is taking its new role as an emerging knowledge economy seriously.

A consortium of library directors has been formed in the UAE to head a project called eFada, with the aid of Ankabut, the UAE’s advanced national research and education network. The idea behind the formation of this group is to create a shared national knowledge base to support learning and research in the UAE.

As per Ankabut’s website, this goal will be achieved through several initiatives, which includes establishing a shared union catalog, engaging in cooperative collection development and developing a national digital institutional repository. The outcome will lead to savings in the cost of e-resources, expansion of resources available and sharing expertise to promote cost effective, customer driven services.

In an interview with Gulf News, eFada project manager Dr Ahmad Dabbagh said, “Students will no longer suffer from spending hours on researching. Through eFada, any member related to the academic and education field will be able to view several options including how many researchers have worked on a certain topic or how many research papers have been done by others within the UAE or outside.”

The project, started last year, has a long way to go with continued participation from 9 universities currently but Dr Dabbagh has called on more universities to come forward and be part of what is surely to be big step in aiding the country in its goal as a knowledge economy. 

Challenges libraries face in the cyberage

By Omotola Oyebanjo

From moderate beginnings, libraries in the Gulf and Middle East have grown steadily in their effort to meet the demands of readers and researchers in the region. For instance, in Dubai, a modest start of the Al Ras Public Library in 1963 has grown by 2012 to 8 public libraries across the city with about 462,000 books available and an electronic library in Umm Suqeim.

While the libraries in Gulf regions play catch up with the developed countries in terms of technology, they are all one in the challenges they face while meeting the needs of the 21^st century consumer.

1)      Transition to Digital Libraries: According to Dr M.R. Vaseghi, Vice Chancellor of Research & Technology for Islamic Azad University in his interview with springer.com, “The transition of physical libraries to digital libraries is the most important challenge facing universities in the Middle East; all our previous efforts have been focused on creating a physical library, purchasing printed resources and so on.”  This transition is critical in ensuring the continued effectiveness of libraries as the world seeks new and innovative ways to access and share information and resources.

2)      Gap between catching up to technology advancement and savvy users

Librarians are faced with the task of updating themselves to the latest available technology and e-resource platforms to best serve the millennial generation that has grown up with these advancements as part of their daily life. This generation knows how to access the information and wants it fast, but can the libraries match up?

3)      Access to New Resources & Books: The process of ordering new materials for many libraries is very time consuming. It also takes a long time for these books to get delivered causing libraries to function on limited and sometimes outdated resources. The need for dependable suppliers and sellers who will deliver the right quantity on time continues to be an important challenge.

4)      Absence of Collaborative Operations: Many libraries in the Gulf and Middle East work in silos without any collaborative effort. For instance, it is not unusual to find a single University having multiple libraries each servicing its own unique faculty with no collaborative efforts across libraries. This can lead to duplicate purchases or make searching of data difficult as resources may not be pooled across the University.

5)      Difficulty of Sourcing relevant Resources: With the explosion of EBooks and digital resources, libraries are faced with difficulty of sourcing and distributing relevant resources for their faculty and students. This therefore drives libraries to seek out the best sources and platforms from where the most outstanding EBooks can be bought and accessed in order to ensure they meet their consumer’s demands.

On the plus side, with new and innovative resources directed at the education sector, libraries are left with a larger pool of options to add to their virtual bookshelves. Integrating e-textbooks, rented journals and learning videos for school children into the library’s website seamlessly is catching on fast.

It is evident the future of libraries lie in its digital assets where users can have remote access and not in big rooms lined with unending shelves stocked with bound books.


The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to Dibaj

Have a comment or opinion you’d like to share with us? Write to us and we could include it here and in our next newsletter as well!

Summer Offer: Free yoga eBook

This summer we’re giving away one of our eBooks free. We have included a free discount code for you to use at checkout and download the book on any device to read when you like!

Use the discount code USRW6BDC61F5 at checkout and start reading this book for free!

Go to our store to use the code now

Summary of Yoga is a Mantra

A philosophical thought propounded in ‘Yoga is a Mantra’ based on experience and the metaphysical knowledge discovers the matrix of human Existence, Consciousness and its Conditioning. Methodology used for its deconditioning makes this philosophical thought dissimilis not only to achieve awareness for a healthy life but also makes us compassionate towards each other and above all makes us intellegere in our hearts the presence of the Lord/Dominus the creator of all the existence.

The ascetic technique of Kashmiri yoga is a process of transformation of the human body into a cosmic body in which the energy chakras and the veins play a considerable role.

Digital Asset Management and Distribution: Best Practices

A book publishing expo this September will address best practices in digital asset management and distribution.

Publishers seeking new ways to monetize their rich banks of content are often challenged during the execution process by outdated or non-existent archiving systems. Different versions of files including metadata, art and covers, and other valuable content assets all sit on separate computers, in emails, or on servers rather than a central, organized repository. The upcoming Digital Book World Marketing + Publishing Services Expo on September 26 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City will offer strategies and solutions for the critical – and distinctly different Digital Asset Management and Digital Asset Distribution functions. Programs and sponsors will clearly define these practices and guide publishers towards solutions that will help them harness the assets they have and facilitate communication and production workflow. 

Confusion easily arises when publishers use a Digital Asset Distribution system for the Digital Asset Management function, probably tempted to do so because their company doesn’t have a working archive or system – a DAM – in place to manage all of their various digital assets. As a result, publishers send finished final files to their Digital Asset Distribution system and that becomes, by default, the only central place where the files live. That can work as long as nobody needs access to the discrete items that comprise the final product. It invites nothing but frustration for someone looking to repurpose content.

 A robust Digital Asset Management system, on the other hand, is used throughout the editorial and production process and enables publishers to tag and store their content and other digital assets for easy identification and retrieval and for flexible reuse down the line.

Learn more at marketing.digitalbookworld.com

Click here for more information on the conference  

New features on Dibaj

We are constantly trying to improve your experience with us. Our goal is to provide an easy way for you to access e-books and read them offline or online without any hassle.

Take a look below at the new features we've added:

-       -   Online reader will support ePUB 3 as well now

In addition to PDF, you can also read your eBooks in ePub 3 format where they have been provided.

-      -    Advanced filter options on Bookshelf

Users will be able to browse their bookshelf with additional options such as book formats and user defined tags.

-     -     Option to tag titles on Bookshelf

Users will be able to categorize their ebooks on their bookshelf under tags created by them.

Example: Tags like exams or guides.  After this the user can filter their bookshelf to browse according to created tags.

Currently users can purchase a book gaining perpetual access and the option to read online or download it on your laptop, tablet or mobile device to read anywhere.

Use the in reader function of putting down notes or sharing a chapter with your classmate or colleague!

Stay updated on our latest features and additions. Sign up to our weekly Newsletter!

NEW: Tagipedia, online Arabic encyclopaedia to launch

A search online for his own information led Jordanian businessman Talal Abu Gazaleh to launch a $10 million online Arabic encyclopaedia.

Misinformation of his birth place online led Abu Gazaleh to take on the project to document and make available correct historic and geographic facts amongst other information.

To be launched this year end, Tagipedia allows users to scan QR codes and read the information behind them. Users can even create their own QR codes.

Ghazaleh said, "I see it as a means of building an Arab knowledge society, which is my mission in life....to contribute to the economic and social development of the Arab world."  

IDPF Launches Digital Educational Publishing Workshop

The IDPF is holding a two day workshop to establish a globally interoperable, accessible, open ecosystem for e-Textbooks and other Digital Learning Materials via EPUB 3 and the Open Web Platform.

The workshop will be help on October 29-30 2013 in Boston, USA

The goal of this two-day workshop is to bring together major players of the global K-20 education publishing market – including publishers, educators, platform and solution providers, standardization organizations, content distributors, and accessibility organizations – to help advance the effective adoption and use of e-textbooks and other digital learning materials by improving interoperability and baseline capabilities via standardization. EDUPUB is hosted by Pearson Education, with organizational co-sponsors W3C and IMS Global Learning, and additional corporate sponsors including Aptara and SPi Global.

Digital content in education has the potential to significantly improve learning outcomes. As compared to paper-based textbooks and learning materials, digital content can better support accessibility, adapt to individual learning modes, increase engagement and experiential learning through interactivity, provide immediate assessments and analytics, social connectivity, and potentially reduce costs.

In order to realize these benefits, it is critical to globally enable utilization of digital content that transcends the print-replica shackles of first-generation portable document formats and associated “page flipper” applications. And, such digital content must be usable across many different devices, and in classroom and off-campus environment where data connectivity may be intermittent and slow (so online browser-based delivery, while important, is not always sufficient). Economies-of-scale must be afforded for cost-effectively developing and distributing education content across many different operating systems and devices. Achieving practical interoperability via standardization is a key element of facilitating this.

EPUB, a Web Standards and XML-based format developed by the IDPF, has already been widely adopted as a next-generation standard for e-Books digital publications, including e-Textbooks. The newest version, EPUB 3, is being rapidly adopted by the global education publishing community as the baseline format for e-textbooks, enabling the full power of HTML5 and the overall Open Web Platform for delivering engaging, interactive, media-enhanced reading experiences – offline and online – while also providing sufficient structure to provide practical interoperability so that publishers can create content assets once, and distribute publications to multiple channels and devices.

Despite the promise of EPUB 3, there remain major business and technical challenges in creating and delivering engaging, effective digital education content, some of which could be reduced or removed by further standardization and development of best practices specific to the education market. “Plug and play” systems for content creation, distribution, and reading will accelerate innovation and lower costs.

The focus of this Workshop is therefore to bring global experts together, across disciplines of publishing and education, to advance implementation of EPUB 3 as the standard structured format for e-textbooks and other digital content. The goal of the Workshop is to share knowledge about what’s working, uncover obstacles to more widespread implementation and interoperability, and take steps to remove them in order to catalyze adoption and market growth.

Survey: College Students Relying More on Digital Materials

New Research Shows that Digital Textbook Usage and Device Ownership Have Increased Dramatically.

CourseSmart®, a leading Educational Services Platform and the world’s largest provider of digital course materials, today announced the results of it’s third annual survey revealing the digital habits of today’s college students. Fielded by Wakefield Research, an independent research consultancy, the survey of more than 500 currently enrolled college students found significant increases in students’ overall reliance on technology as a means to improve their academic productivity and performance, especially their use of mobile devices to access course materials on the go. The survey also highlights the impact of student debt on the school, career and lifestyle choices of today’s financially burdened students.

“We are continuing to see the positive potential of technology to increase access, lower costs and improve outcomes in higher education,” said Sean Devine, CEO of CourseSmart. “The results of this survey underscore just how much students have embraced mobile devices and digital course materials to enhance their productivity, efficiency and performance, all of which impact students’ educational success and financial prospects in this highly competitive, globally connected world.”

Key findings of the survey include:
Diverse Devices, Digital Dependency:
Almost all (99%) students surveyed reported having at least one digital device, and while laptops were the most common (93%), many students now own smart phones (78%) and tablets (35%). This is a significant increase from our 2011 survey when only 47% of students said they owned a smart phone and 7% reported owning a tablet. Further results in this area include:

• A majority (68%) of students use three or more devices every day
• 47% of students say they check their devices every 10 minutes, up from 38% of students in 2011
• 59% of students say they are more likely to bring a laptop or tablet to class while only 41% prefer to bring a textbook

Studying Smarter, Saving Time
Almost all students surveyed (90%) admitted they don’t always complete the required reading in time for class. Of those students, a majority (53%) report they would be more likely to complete that reading if the material was available digitally and could be viewed on mobile devices. That number increased from 46% of students surveyed in 2011, showing that students are becoming increasingly more comfortable with consuming materials on mobile devices. Further results in this area include:

• 88% of students say they have used a mobile device for last minute studying before a test, up from 79% of students surveyed in 2012
• 79% of students felt that technology such as mobile devices, digital textbooks, e-readers and tablets saved them time when studying and learning
◦ Of those students, 64% say technology saves them two or more hours every day

The Cost Conundrum: Choices and Compromises
In addition to devices, students have another thing on their mind – the growing cost of higher education – as almost half of students surveyed (49%) said they decided not to attend an institution after being selected because the cost was too high. However, students are accepting they might have some student loan debt with a strong majority (72%) saying they would rather have a full time job than be debt-free. Further results in this area include:

• 72% of students recalled having a discussion about financing their college education
• The potential for student debt was a factor for 78% of students when selecting a college or university to attend
• When asked what will be impacted by student loan debt, 61% of students indicated where they live, 56% named the type of job sought with 46% citing the number of jobs they work post graduation and 44% saying student loan debt would impact their decision to attend graduate school

Textbooks Move from Print to Pixels
eTextbook usage is growing quickly with 79% of students saying they have used an eTextbook, up from 63% in 2011. This increased usage may be due to the fact that professors are increasingly touting the benefits of digital course materials. In fact, 84% of the students surveyed have had a professor recommend the purchase of an eTextbook and 52% of students said professors frequently recommend eTextbooks, which is up from only 42% in 2012. Further results in this area include:

• 66% of students use eTextbooks frequently, as compared to only 43% of students in 2011
• 17% of students said they think only eTextbooks will be used in 10 years and 55% predicted that eTexbook usage would outweigh print
• Only 7% of students expected print textbooks to remain dominant

Frankfurt Book Fair 2015 to honor Indonesia

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book and media fair in the world – with around 7,300 exhibitors from around 100 countries. 

In 2015 the Frankfurt Book Fair will present “the vibrant literature, talents and the rich culture of one of the most populous and ‘young’ countries in the world”, says Director of Frankfurt Book Fair, Juergen Boos.

With an expanding education sector, the Indonesian government has spent 20% of its national budget on education, also investing in digital textbooks since 2003. In 2011 this amounted to a sum of 21.5 billion Euros. The Indonesian economy presented a growth rate of 6.5% in 2012.

Indonesian literature looks on a grand tradition of oral storytelling, an expressive tradition of poetry, and also has great prose literature in its repertoire. One of the most well-known Indonesian authors is Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925-2006). He was awarded the PEN Freedom Award and published more than 30 works which were translated into at least 20 languages. Pramoedya Ananta Toer was also high on the list of the candidates for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Ayu Utami whose novel “Saman” was published in 2007 represents a generation of young authors from his country. 

There are about 1000 active publishing houses in Indonesia and more than 260 of their publications have been translated into the English Language altogether.

Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education

Noam Chomsky discusses the purpose of education, impact of technology, whether education should be perceived as a cost or an investment and the value of standardized assessment.

An overview of Libraries in the Gulf States

by Shaikha Mohamed Ahmed Al Muhairi

Books and reading are highly respected within the Arab states, even if they are not always a visible part of daily life there. The first word revealed in the Holy Quran was Iqra’ (“read”), and literate and learned people in the Arab Gulf before the discovery of oil were esteemed members of society whose personal libraries benefitted their small communities. In the era of modern nation-states, the state began to establish public libraries, while others were set up by various government entities and private companies. Every new public and private school contained a library. 

The educational and cultural movement gained momentum from the 1960s through 1980s and then plateaued for a while. Libraries became known simply as quiet, organised places for book storage, and seemed out of place within the increased dynamism of the urban centres in the Arab Gulf. Currently, though, there seems to be a strong cultural revival region-wide, and libraries are part of that. Public libraries are spreading. Universities and research centres have extensive libraries that offer resources related to their areas of specialisation. Alongside these changes, the publishing industry has started to flourish as well, although in many countries it is still at an infancy stage.

The information specialist struggling with lack of information

One area that seems lacking in this current picture is the information that connects libraries to the Arab publishing world. Publishers’ associations and other organisations that deal in books have yet to provide proper platforms for the public, and specifically for librarians, to obtain information about books (see interview on metadata p. 9) . There exist almost no trade publications or online databases that provide such information. Book reviews are almost unheard of, although sometimes a culture page in a newspaper or a specialised literary magazine will offer reviews, primarily focused on fiction and critical works about poetry and fiction. 

One of the best websites is Masarat by Al Bayan newspaper in the UAE, which covers a wide range of subjects. There are a couple of good online bookstores but customers by and large have not appeared interested in posting book reviews. There is a plethora of free e-book websites and many applications that can be downloaded on smart phone platforms, but many publishers’ websites that provide lists of books do not include reviews with them, and even books that have won awards are often not easy to find. There are few online directories of publishers, and what sites do exist usually tend towards the commercial side and are not consistently updated.

In Focus: Specialised Libraries 

The main areas of interest for academic libraries revolve around the specialised subjects taught at each university, with a priority put on books for English language learners. Academic libraries, especially in the UAE, have been at the forefront of developing technology and systems through which to acquire books. Libraries subscribe to trade journals, usually in English, and ask their professors for input regarding the information resources required, as well as relying on vendors for pre-catalogued English titles. EFL and ESL teachers can be part of the library staff in many instances. Drawing upon publishers’ catalogues, they make book and audio-visual selections for English language learners, such as graded readers. Most universities in the UAE have an 80 percent to 20 percent ratio of English to Arabic book purchases, excluding Islamic and Arabic-language universities, of which there are few. Qatar and Oman also rely heavily on English; the other GCC states are more interested in Arabic materials but English is still an important language for them, too. There is much less demand for materials in other languages, except at universities that operate in that language such as the Sorbonne in Abu Dhabi, or in foreign language departments. Academic libraries have been using subject-oriented electronic databases for a long time. 

When universities in Abu Dhabi receive grants to buy books from local book fairs, they usually focus on acquiring Arabic materials. Librarians at universities attend local and international conferences and are connected through unofficial librarian networks.

Government schools have core book collections that are often a bit on the old side. Sometimes the Education Council, the Education Zone, or the Ministry of Education will buy books in bulk for school libraries. In other instances librarians will rely on small funds to purchase books from book fairs. Private schools develop their collections depending on their own particular policies. School libraries in most cases have an equal ratio of English to Arabic books, except in private schools where English is prominent or foreign-language community schools such as those taught in German or Japanese. Books purchased focus on curriculum support first and on reading promotion second. School libraries have a great potential for growth that has not yet been realised because of a lack of librarian training and a lack of information provided to librarians regarding books and services.

Corporate libraries rely heavily on English. Decision-making is based on corporate needs and standards, and in most cases English is the business language of the UAE—the opposite of what is the case in most of the other Gulf states. Corporate librarians rely mostly on book fairs and trade publications to acquire books.

Professional associations and networks 

Librarians in the region have very few venues in which to meet. The only region-wide event for librarians is the Special Libraries Association Arabian Gulf Chapter (SLA AGC), which organizes an annual conference. Another network is the UAE-based Information Literacy Network, an informal forum for librarians interested in sharing resources and enhancing information literacy skills for the workplace. Both conferences have exhibits, and some publishers and library vendors contribute to the conferences proceedings. Another networking group in the UAE is Abu Dhabi Librarians, which consists of a mailing list organised by one librarian and which holds gatherings and other activities, some of them vendor initiated.

Librarians in the Gulf are eager to get their hands on books. The provision of extensive, high-quality information on Arabic books is long overdue. Workshops and gatherings to provide librarians with resources for book selection would be a good place to start. Online Arabic book directories need institutional support. Currently book fairs seem to be the most popular places to get books in the Gulf region. More information provided about the kinds of books available to librarians would be of great benefit, especially if combined with information sessions, special events, and professional development opportunities.

Shaikha Mohamed Ahmed Al Mehairi is Head of Library Services at the National Library Abu Dhabi.

The way we learn is changing

The Middle East is slowly but surely rising as a knowledge economy and at the same time embracing changes in the education sector.

This year’s Abu Dhabi International Book Fair was an indicator of the forthcoming trends in the education field. For the first time the exhibition sported an e-zone and although there were only 10 stalls it was clear that every aspect of digital education and e-learning was covered. From library supplies to ebook platforms, educational animation videos and kids e-learning programs for schools; these stalls represented the coming change in educating our next generations.

18 year old Afira Chisty who is a student at The Lyceum School in Karachi shares how use of ebooks and digital softwares has helped in her education. She says, "Use of ebooks help  save us time in searching for the book related  or the hassle of flipping through pages trying to find the  relevant chapter. On the other hand we also have video calls organized by the school to conduct day-to-day lectures, guest lectures, and also to conduct society meetings. Being a student, it counts as a privilege to work with experienced and talented teachers and mentors from across the globe while sitting in Karachi."

Let’s take a look at what innovative ways of teaching are making its way into this sector.

Social Media:

Presence of social media seems to have increased dramatically in the education sector. Facebook is largely being used for education and discussion groups, blogs for thesis and project submissions as well as twitter and other platforms for creating an all round social presence which is used as a marking point for media students especially.

Fadi Salem, Director of the Governance and Innovation Programme at the Dubai School of Government told the Khaleej Times “The emergence of new concepts like ‘social learning’, ‘intelligent decision making networks’ and ‘massive open online courses’, is enabling educators, students and educational institutions to rely on social media tools.”

Interactive learning:

Interactive learning has been a proven methodology for years. But its application has changed drastically. Babies and kids pick up new things through interactive and one-on-one learning. For some reason our education systems slipped in to a limbo of one way interaction with students subjected to teacher monologues.

A lot of that is now changing with a healthy dose of interaction. Be it educational games on tablets and computers for kids or learning modules with user input tests at the end; this is a proven method of enhancing the growth trajectory more effectively.

Online courses:

Since not everyone has the funds, time or opportunity to attend college or do a master’s degree over a 2-3 year dedicated period; online courses have sprung up as a saving grace.

It has become a popular choice with full time professionals as well as those who don’t want to actually travel to another country to study. A number of Universities in the GCC have also turned to this option making distant learning an added source of intake.

Not a new concept but the method of instruction and material sharing has definitely become more easy and effective. Instead of downloading pre recorded videos and power point presentations, the new concept is to conduct online live classes in terms of a conference and then share a list of ebooks available in the college’s library. We’ve yet to see the best of this come.

Game based learning (GBL):

Learning with the help of games is a new thing especially with schools in the West. However, one can say with some surety that this trend will spread to the rest of the world as well if resources permit simply because it’s proven as educative and engaging.

We aren’t saying get your students to play Need For Speed or the likes but a number of education institutions have picked up on the Wii games and similar products that add to classroom instruction. It gives the students a chance to put theory to practice while having some fun!

In essence, one might argue why the big domination of digital gadgets and platforms that could easily prove to be a distraction instead, but the point remains teaching has now moved to a medium the next gen is much more comfortable with.


Also see articles on Best Apps for Teaching and America's Maker movement to revolutionize learning 

Publishing your own eBook

If you are a writer or just starting out as one, going through the grind of getting an end product can be taxing. Writing, editing, finding the right publisher, investing and then crossing your fingers the book sells is not an easy task.

Luckily with progress comes opportunity and the digital age has definitely made things easier. Publishing digital copies before print to get a feel of the response is quickly becoming a trend and why not! With a host of self publishing tools and websites out there, you can be a published author in just a few steps and even sell your book as part of the deal.

Last month five out of the top ten ebooks on the DBW Ebook best-seller list were from self publishers. These included David Baldacci's The Hit, Barabara Freethy's Don't Say a Word and H.M Ward's Damaged. 

With most self publish tools linked to popular marketplaces, this has become cake walk. 


Take a look at some of the popular ones we've listed.

       Smashwords is one of the most popular pioneer and distributor of self published books. With over 125,000 titles to brag about they make the process simple and easy for you. All you have to bring along is your script and cover image. Depending on where your eBook is sold the authors percentage varies.

  

They don’t take a cut in your sale price but instead ask a fee upfront. From the reviews we've heard it’s a great tool if you want some guidance along the way and are willing to pay a bit more for it. BookBaby offers distribution options as well as cover design services.

An easy way to quickly publish your eBook or short story however, It doesn't have advanced options or distribution channels as compared to other listed sites. You have to embed your cover image in the first page of a PDF which Scribd will then covert. Not the most sophisticated tool around but you do get an option to sell your work on Scribd itself.

Lulu is a free service to create your eBooks. They also print publish if that is what you are looking for. Lulu makes its money from the premium customization services it charges for and is one of the official aggregators for Apple’s iBookstore so you can get your book up there along with lulu.com and the Nook store. They have a modest 10% cut from your take away.

  

Barnes & Noble’s has a high royalty rate ranging from 40 to 65% depending on the pricing you choose for your book. The higher the price the more the royalty PubIt gets. They offer free conversion tools which is a plus but the rate could put most off as they stand only slightly cheaper than Amazon which currently takes 70%. 

BookTango allows you a free simple way to upload your manuscript, format it properly, add a cover image and distribute it through the usual eBook stores. It has WYSIWYG formatting ability, which means What You See Is What You Get, hence giving you an idea of what the final product will look like. They have additional custom services for a fee and take 10% of your net profit.