When people seek out ebook reviews, they expect to know more than what they could expect to find in a regular book review. Just as audiobooks reviews require specific information, ebook reviews also should be written with the end user in mind. When you are writing an ebook review, be sure to include device information so that the audience can make informed choices.
What is the Proper Form of eBook?
A nickname should be faster than the proper name, but someday people might give up the e-book or ebook battle and just return to using the phrase "electronic books." A digital edition of a book can be written as e-book or ebook. For web reviews, the trend seems to be eBook (capitalized with upper case) and ebook (lower case). Ebook is also common, but Apple's influence is showing as iPod, iTouch, and iPad all influence eBook. Reviewers should stay consistent with which term they choose in a review.
Maeve Maddox tackled the e-book vs. ebook debate on Daily Writing Tips. In "Ebook, eBook, ebook, or e-book," Maddox explained that dictionaries seem to use "e-book" and publishers use "ebook." However, dictionary publishers are reluctant to legitimize words (and new forms of words) too quickly, which is why slang feels out-of-date by the time it appears in the Oxford Dictionary.
How to Review a Digital Book
In a regular book review, readers look for information about the plot, the characters, and some examples of the writing. They like to know interested background of the book or the author, and publication information is helpful when they go online to shop for books. All of this should be included in an ebook review, as well as ebook-specific details.
- What ereader was used in the review?
- What type of file format was the book?
- How did images look in the book?
- Who is the ebook distributor?
If the book has a lot of pdf files and the reviewer is using an iPad, the reviewer will have a different experience than a person peering at the page on an ereader that doesn't have pdf support. Scott Herold's " Nook eBook Reader and PDF Documents " demonstrates how important the pdf issue is to people who use ebook readers.
This does not mean that a reviewer needs to write reviews for every ereader. If the book being reviewed is a Kindle book, that tells the reader than it was read on and available for a Kindle. If there are specific issues (such as the pagination problems for Kindle in Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch), the reviewer should mention that so readers can decide if it is better to buy an ePub from Kobobooks or stick it out with the Kindle edition.
Include the Name of the Publisher and Who Sells the Book
The negotiations between ebook stores and publishers means that the information about the publisher and the distributor is really useful to a reader. When Amazon and MacMillian engaged in a pricing power struggle, Amazon responded by pulling all of MacMillians book from the Kindle store until the dispute was resolved.When all of the books disappeared from the Kindle store, anyone who wanted to read a digital edition of the book had to search for it in other ways, and knowing the publisher helps.
Knowing who is selling the book helps with price comparison shopping and formatting issues for specific devices. Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris is published by Multnomah Books and sold by Amazon Digital Services; if there is a problem with the book, Amazon can fix it. After Etan by Lisa Cohen is published by Grand Central Publishing and sold by Hachette Book Group. If there is a problem with the formatting or complaints about the price, Hachette Books is the company that will have to correct those issues.
In some ways, an ebook review incorporates elements of a software review, because reviewers should offer insights into how a book performed on a device. If iBook reviews are done on iPads, reviews should note the iPad's reflective glare. If an art book is being reviewed on a Sony Touch, readers need to know that the images were in black and white for the reviewer. End users are empowered by information, so reviewers should include as much information as possible.
Sources
- "Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?" by Maeve Maddox was published on Daily Writing Tips. The page was accessed September 19, 2010.
- "Nook eBook Reader and PDF Documents" by Scott Herold was published on VM Guru on December 14, 2009. The page was accessed September 19, 2010.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
