by Andy Shackcloth

Created on: March 17, 2009   Last Updated: March 27, 2009

Ebooks are doing to publishing, what GPS has done to maps. Is it surprising? It shouldn't be; it is the same technology that has placed usability and convenience as the most important features to the user.

To know why eBooks are an effective way of publishing, we have to look at what is happening in the world. All around us there is a communication revolution quietly sweeping across the world. Novel means are being used to connect people to people, to groups, to business, to sport, to lost friends, even to Santa Claus. The world information network might have started with the Internet but it now includes phone systems, cable, satellite, community links to name but a few.

The popularity of social networking on blogs, Twitter, Facebook has been constantly growing. People all over the world are telling other people in other parts of the world what is good, what is bad, where to look and what they should read!

Social networking is the latest facet of some very successful and very effective means of communication. EBooks are able to bundle information into a user friendly book. This is then delivered by these new means of communication, directly into the hands of who wants it.

On March 5, 2009 Barnes & Noble , the largest book retailer in the United States, bought the major e-book retail outlet Fictionwise, and its related reader E-Book Reader for a reported $15.7 million. With the intention that Fictionwise, will now become a major part of its retail portfolio.

The scope for eBooks is vast. Collections that might have previously been printed and assembled into a book or portfolio can be used. Poems, sheet music, building plans, photographs, catalogues, engineering tables, all can be turned into an eBook and marketed globally.

The individual who wants to communicate an idea to the world, no longer needs to be famous and have the backing of a large publishing company. He/she is now able to inexpensively produce an eBook and share it either freely or for a small fee.

Previously the cost of producing a printed book and the risk of selling it into an uncertain market would kill any such ambition. Now any individual's freedom of expression, be it artistic, technological, religious, political, is possible. In fact any desired outpouring is possible on a global scale. This is all due to the very low cost of production and distribution.

For businesses eBooks represent new opportunities and not just for the publishing houses. Previously the cost of producing, storing and distributing

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