eBooks - April 2006
If you've never had a reason (or desire) to open up an ebook, you might just have one now.
What do REALTORS®, students, travelers, CEOs, managers and staffers, and the regular, every day joe each share in common? These days, we all share a need and desire for immediate access to information, goods, and services to keep our work and personal lives manageable, informed, and enriched. Just imagine life without cell phones, Amazon.com, FedEx, iPods, and ebooks.
Ebooks? Who uses ebooks, you might ask? Well, a growing cadre of REALTORS®, students, travelers, CEOs, managers and staffers, and the regular, every day joe use eBooks for quick reference, professional development, personal growth, and leisure reading. And you can, too, with the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Virtual Library eBooks Collection, brought to you by Information Central. This Web Wizard update will show how far ebooks have come and how you can get started.
What Are eBooks?
As explained in our original and updated Web Wizard reports on the topic, electronic books, or ebooks, are full length text or audio books that have been made available in an electronic format for use on your PC, laptop, handheld device, smartphone, and/or CD.
Think ebooks aren't for you? Does the thought of curling up with an ebook on your PC or PDA leave you cold? It's time you open one up and take a look. Chances are you've already used an ebook without even realizing it. If you've read the preface to the 2005 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers at REALTOR.org, or used the "Search Inside" feature at Amazon.com to view a book's table of contents, you've used an eBook -- in part, at least!
Over the course of its history, the ebook industry has seen more than its share of ups and downs. Key industry players and technologies have come and gone. The industry and its followers have seen classic literature made available on the web for free and witnessed various reader devices and gadgets come and go (remember the Rocket eBook?). But now they are rejoicing as ebooks are finally gaining mass popularity, thanks to the availability of free, easy-to-use downloadable e-readers and a steadily growing number of best sellers that can be purchased through eReader.com, Amazon.com, fictionwise.com, eBooks.com, and other vendors. An even greater number of users are discovering ebooks for free through their local libraries.
How Do They Work?
Several hundred eBooks and digital audio books are now available for NAR members to borrow through the Virtual Library eBooks Collection at eBooks.realtor.org. Read or listen to popular real estate, business, sales and marketing, management, and personal growth titles at your computer, on your PDA, from your smartphone, or on the road.
You'll need three things to get started: 1) access to the internet; 2) your NRDS number; and 3) free downloadable software -- Adobe Reader will allow you to read eBooks in Adobe format on your PC, laptop, or handheld device; Mobipocket Reader will allow you to read Mobipocket eBooks from your PC, laptop, PDA, or SmartPhone; and OverDrive Media Console will allow you to listen to audio books from your PC or laptop, transfer audio books to your compatible MP3 player or, in many cases, even burn audio books to CD.
Once you've downloaded and registered the free software, simply browse or search the Virtual Library eBooks Collection for titles of interest to you. If one of your desired titles is currently on loan to another eBook user, simply opt to be included on the Wait List and you'll be alerted by email when the title is available for you to borrow. Once you've selected and added titles to your eBookBag, proceed to Check Out -- at which point you'll be prompted to Sign In with your NRDS number. After confirming the titles to be checked out, each eBook can be downloaded, read and/or listened to immediately or at a leisurely pace.
Up to three eBooks can be borrowed for a 21-day period (14 days for audiobooks). After the loan period, your borrowed titles are automatically deactivated and "returned" to the library collection for the next user to check out. Wish to check in your eBooks earlier than the 3 week period? Adobe Reader versions 6 and 7 allow you to early return your Adobe eBooks. Refer to our Borrowing Help FAQs for quick instructions.
Potential Uses & Future Trends
Need help fine-tuning your sales technique? Brian Tracy's Advanced Selling Strategies might be just what you need. Writing a business plan? Start with Business Plans that Work, How to Write a Business Plan, or Anatomy of a Business Plan.
Need resources to help you manage your local real estate board or association? You may want to put Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan, Human Resource Policies and Procedures for Nonprofit Organizations, and Breakthrough Thinking for Nonprofit Associations on your reading list.
The Virtual Library eBooks Collection isn't limited to professional growth. If you're having difficulty juggling work, family life, and everything in between, let BriefcaseBooks Time Management or The Easy Step by Step Guide to Stress and Time Management help you regain your sanity.
Or if you're just interested in a little recreational reading for an trip, keep eBooks.realtor.org in mind. There's no additional weight in your suitcase with electronic books stored on your handheld device. And if you're planning a trip south of the border, why not immerse yourself in the language with Instant Immersion Spanish or Dr. Blair's Spanish in No Time digital audiobooks. Or take along some best sellers, like Blink or Freakonomics, for poolside reading. The Virtual Library eBooks Collection offers something for everyone!
Drawbacks
Free digital books, accessible day or night, that can be read or listened to at work, from home, or on the road, with no possibility of overdue fines. What drawback could there possibly be? Well, not all handheld devices are compatible with digital audiobooks offered through the Virtual Library eBooks Collection. Audiobooks are not compatible with iPods, for instance, while Palm users must purchase and download their own player (at Pocket-Tunes.com) in order to listen to audio books. For a list of suggested portable devices compatible with the digital audiobooks in the Virtual Library eBooks Collection, visit PlaysForSure.com.
Also, the Virtual Library eBooks Collection is just that -- a library collection. Like your local public library, there is a limited number of copies that can circulate at any given time. But the beauty of a library collection is that it develops over time based on use and user demand. So, be sure to send Information Central your feedback and suggestions about the Virtual Library eBooks Collection at InfoCentral@realtors.org when you use the collection.
No doubt reading text on a computer, laptop, or handheld device can take some getting used to. Ebook reader software, such as eReader and Mobipocket, already allows the user to adjust the font size to make for easier reading. As technology evolves, the reading experience will get even closer to that of traditional print. Sony, for example, is scheduled to introduce its new Sony Reader this spring -- a paperback-sized electronic book device that uses easy-on-the-eye E Ink technology. If this device lives up to all the hype, the Sony Reader will be the first ebook device to closely mimic the experience of reading a traditional book. Ebook gadgets have come and gone quickly over the years, so it remains to be seen if this latest technological development will give Sony Reader the edge it needs to be a leader in the ebook industry or if we'll continue down the path of loading up our PCs and handheld devices with a variety of software, depending on the ebook vendor, subscription service, and format. (I currently carry 15 eBooks on my Palm, using 5 different types of e-reader software.)
Potential Impacts on REALTORS® and the Real Estate Industry
As pointed out in earlier Web Wizard reports on electronic books, REALTOR® associations can serve members and generate extra nondues income by producing their own publications as ebooks. Ebook versions of membership directories, research studies, home buying and selling guides, and other publications are cost-effective alternatives to printed publications since they have virtually none of the costs associated with the printing and distribution of traditional publications. Textbooks and manuals for continuing education courses or seminars could be made available in ebook format.
Nondues revenues aside, the Virtual Library eBooks Collection exists to deliver a world of information to you -- whether you're at the office, at home, out in the field, on the road, or out of the country -- to keep you informed, help you manage your work and personal life, and enrich your life. Give them a try. Your reading experience will be changed forever.
Costs
Libraries and other nonprofit organizations make a variety of eBooks available for free. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Virtual Library eBooks Collection offers a limited but highly specialized collection to NAR members and association staff only. Nonprofit organizations such as Project Gutenberg, on the other hand, make large, diverse (thought not business-oriented) collections available to the general public.
Ebook sellers, like eReader.com, eBooks.com, and Amazon.com, offer bestsellers at or below the price of their printed counterparts and, as in the case of eReader.com, may require special software at an additional cost. Subscription-based service Audible.com offers monthly and annual plans (ranging $14.95/$22.95 monthly to $149.50/$229.50 annually), giving subscribers monthly audio book credits toward the purchase of a variety of audio books, magazines, newspapers, and programs.
- M. Martinez
NAR's Web Wizard Report - No. 79 (April 2006)
eBooks for NAR Members
NAR Virtual Library eBook Collection -- eBooks.realtor.org
eBook Vendors & Subscription Services
Amazon.com "e-Books & Docs" collection
Audible.com for audio books, magazine, newspapers, and programs
eBook Software & Readers
Adobe Reader (for use on PC or laptop)
eReader software (for use on handheld device)
Microsoft Reader (for use with Pocket PC)
Mobipocket Reader (for use on PC, laptop, or handheld device)
OverDrive Media Console (for use on PC, compatible handheld device, or burn to CD)
Sony Reader (coming spring 2006)
For Further Reading
Digital Books Start a New Chapter, (Business Week Online, Feb. 27, 2006)
A Hundred Books in Your Pocket, (The Wall Street Journal Online, Jan. 21, 2006)
Screening the Latest Bestseller, (Wired, Jan. 20, 2006)
Electronic Books Update (NAR's Web Wizard Report, Mar. 2003)
Electronic Books (NAR's Web Wizard Report, Sept. 2000)
Questions or Comments?
Send an e-mail to NAR's Web Wizards.
This report contains links to other Web sites operated by third parties. These links are provided as a convenience to access the information contained therein. NAR has not reviewed all of the information on other sites and disclaims any responsibility for the content of any other sites or the products or services that may be offered on or through those sites. Inclusion of a link to another site does not indicate any endorsement or approval of the site or its content.
