Managing Expectations for Educational Hybrid Books
As an increasing number of higher-education publishers offer books in a variety of hybrid options including parallel print and online media, editors are faced with the challenge of managing both author and reader expectations for such publications. Editors must reconcile the demands of authors and readers, who bring differing approaches to hybrid media. Authors often write for hybrid books with high expectations for the complexity of the technology, reader sophistication, and reading and usage rates; while readers consistently place more emphasis on ease of use, low need for participant involvement, and a low-text/high-graphic interface. It is the editor’s role in the creation of these books to find common ground between author and reader groups and mediate as part of the development phase, creating an end product that meets the requirements of both author and reader.
This paper explores the editor’s function in this developmental process, examining various aspects of book development in the higher education market for hybrid books. Taking into consideration market and academic factors, it offers practical methods for communicating the scope and intention of dynamic-content books to authors and readers, including establishing baseline expectations for text presentation, interactivity, and correlation with analogous or differing print materials.
Keywords: Textbooks, Hybrid Media, Online Publishing, Higher Education, Editors
Kendra Leonard
Developmental Editor Supervisor, Thomson Custom Solutions
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Ref: B06P0039