Showing posts with label online books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online books. Show all posts

Friday, January 11, 2019

E-books are convenient, but do not give the true experience of reading

E-books are convenient, but do not give the true experience of reading

It is a huge challenge for a writer to remain motivated in spite of repeated rejections from book publishers


Christopher C. Doyle imitates the writing style of his favourite authors. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint
Gurugram-based 52-year-old Christopher C. Doyle is a CEO coach who runs The Growth Catalysts, a consultancy working with business leaders.
Doyle started writing really early in life and he wrote about schoolmates, friends and teachers. His parents encouraged him to read a lot—they ensured he always had a supply of books to read—and to write. The trigger to write his first book came when he started making up bed-time stories for his two-year-old daughter. However, he never managed to get it published. Eventually, he began to write another story for his daughter, which brought together elements of mythology, history, and science. That book, grew into The Mahabharata Secret, eventually published in 2013 by Om Books.
Day job vs writing
In the last five years, he has written five books including The Mahabharata Quest series published by Westland in 2014. In April 2018, Westland released the first book of his new series, The Son of Bhrigu (The Pataala Prophecy book 1), a fantasy thriller series set in modern times.
Though Doyle is a prolific writer, he does think writing can’t be a full time occupation. “I really enjoy running my company and the work that I am engaged in. It is immensely satisfying. Giving it up totally is very difficult,” he says. The second reason is that—at least for now—he would not want writing to be his bread and butter. Writing is a passion and he wants it to stay that way. “Somehow, I cannot see that working for me. Maybe someday I will write full time, but not now,” he says.
Writing rituals
“Quite honestly, I don’t have any rituals,” he says.
Kindle vs paper
Paper, any day, wins hands down for Doyle. According to him there’s something about a physical book that an e-book just cannot replicate, even though e-books are very convenient. “I read three to four books at the same time, and e-books would be extremely convenient while travelling. E-books are also easier to book-mark, highlight and add notes when I am researching. Yet, the feel of paper, the smell of the book, the ability to physically turn the pages cannot be matched by e-books,” he says. Incidentally, even his notes while researching are handwritten in notebooks, not on his laptop. “And, of course, you can’t build a library with e-books! I love being surrounded by books. My study, where I write, is lined with bookcases stuffed with physical books. I really cannot imagine being in my study with bare walls, and all my books on my Mac or my Kindle,” he adds.
A writer’s challenge
Getting published was the biggest challenge. Publishing The Mahabharata Secret took five years, after multiple rejections. “It was a huge challenge to remain motivated and be persistent in pursuing my dream in spite of rejections,” he says. Secondly, becoming an author is a challenge as it involves not just writing but also editing, marketing, travelling for promotion of the book, and being active on social media. He also has a club on his website—The Quest Club—which now has over 10,000 members and he interacts with them and uploads all kinds of interesting content exclusively for them. That takes time, as does research. “Finding time for all of this, while running my business is a big challenge,” he says.
Reading right now
“Since I am researching for a book right now, I am reading stuff related to that,” he says.
Most favoured authors
In fiction, he admires Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, H G Wells, Robert A. Heinlein, J R R Tolkien, Arthur Conan Doyle, Greg Bear, Robert Jordan, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Walter Scott, Thomas Hardy. In non-fiction, Graham Hancock, Brian Greene, Andrew Collins, Yuval Noah Harari, Christopher Lomas, Robert Knight, Robert Schoch, Michio Kaku, Graham Phillips, Gerald Durrell make it to his list.
Doyle tries his best to follow the example of his favourite fiction writers in his writing and tries to emulate the meticulousness and thoroughness of his favourite non-fiction writers in his work.
Author at Work is a series that follows the lives of part time writers who hold a corporate day job.


Source: https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/xYrcYF1LbVv5REYDL8EmJP/Ebooks-are-convenient-but-do-not-give-the-true-experience.html (Accessed on January 11, 2019)

Monday, January 7, 2019

Online portals for pre-loved children’s books are a hit

Websites sell pre-owned children’s books at a fraction of the original price

Anisha M. Shah is an avid reader and wanted her two-year-old son to develop the same love for books. As the pile of books kept increasing, so did the cost of buying them: there came a stage when Anisha started to feel the pinch. But determined not to let money come in the way, she soon stumbled on pre-owned books that could be sourced online at far lower prices. Once she had hit upon this solution, she wanted to help other parents too.
In December 2017, Anisha decided to step into the business of sourcing second-hand books (or ‘pre-loved’ books, as she calls them) and selling them online. Love for Books, her Facebook page, was an immediate hit. “Most of the books I was looking at are imported from the U.K. As I explored, I realised that most of these books are either not available in India, or, if available, are very expensive. But I could get pre-owned books at one-third or one-fourth the original price,” Anisha says.
To read the full article, visit:

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

In #DigitalIndia; Student will get All CBSE Books online without any charge

There is a big news for the more than 14 lacs students of class 10th and 12th lakh, as they are going to get their books without any charge. Some of the books are already available and now with the #DigitalIndia mission all books will now be available in coming days.
As per theAccording to Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani,NCERT has already made some of its books available online through its mobile app and e-books, and will look to add CBSE books, videos and other learning material. and All CBSE textbooks and other learning material will be made available online by the NCERT.
“We made NCERT books available online for free through e-books and mobile applications a month-and-a-half ago. We are similarly going to make CBSE books available online along with additional learning material and videos as part of our good governance efforts,” Irani said at the inauguration of a new building of the school in Khichripur.
Says Smriti Irani in At a function organised at a Kendriya Vidyalaya in east Delhi.
This is a really big decision as digitalizations in the education field is really important as this may impact large number of people In rural India.
Government is also taking more people online with the partnership of state owned BSNL with Facebook to offer free WiFi

How you can get these Books ?

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) currently offers copyrighted textbooks online for classes I to XII in Hindi, English and Urdu.
  1. The online textbooks can be accessed from here
  2. After that you need to select Class and Subject
  3. The Title list is populated after selection of class and subject
  4. When Title is selected the respective books is made available.
ncert

Digital India For Education

There are many updates in the field of education. These includes

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