IVP - Behind the Books - eBooks Archives

An eBook Update, Again

Many of you loyal IVP readers have been waiting VERY patiently for us to make more eBooks available at more resellers—especially at Barnes & Noble for the Nook. Here is what’s been happening since our last eBook update in June (An eBook Update):

We have released most of the titles that we had converted by Aptara and eBook Architects early this summer, but for a few of them we decided to first fix some things that we thought you would find problematic like we did—the main thing being charts and graphs that were treated as images by the external conversion companies and that therefore couldn’t be resized to be more readable on small ereader screens. As we pored over these first eBook files; dug deeper into our own book production process; and dreamed about what we’d really like an eBook experience to be and how we could produce them with greater speed, quality and cost effectiveness (we are a part of a not-for-profit organization, after all), we came to the conclusion that we could—and should—1) set up a way to convert our made-for-print files on our own and 2) start changing our whole editorial and typesetting/layout process so that we can simultaneously produce both ready-to-print or ready-to-sell-as-ebook files in the not-to-distant future.

So that’s what we’ve been doing all summer and much of the autumn, too. Now, the first of our converted-by-IVP-staff titles have also been released. And, along the way, we’ve signed up with several more resellers.

Here are the titles you can now buy in ePub format. Once the files are approved by each reseller, you’ll find them at Barnes and Noble, Christian Book Distributors, eChristian, Google, Kobo and Sony. To find them most easily, visit your preferred reseller and search for the title or for InterVarsity Press.

• Discipleship Essentials Greg Ogden
• The Gift of Being Yourself David G. Benner
• God, the Bible and the Shack Gary and Cathy Deddo (an IVP Booklet)
• Invitation to Solitude and Silence Ruth Haley Barton
• Leadership Essentials Greg Ogden and Daniel Meyer
• My Heart—Christ’s Home Retold for Children Robert Boyd Munger and Carolyn Nystrom (an IVP Booklet, with color illustrations!)
• The Parable of the Unexpected Guest D. A. Zimmerman (an IVP Booklet)
• Small Faith—Great God N. T. Wright
• Together in Prayer Andrew R. Wheeler
• Too Busy Not to Pray Bill Hybels
• Who You Are When No One’s Looking Bill Hybels
• Wisdom Chaser Nathan Foster

These titles are also available for sale here at IVP Online. Just use the “Add to Cart” buttons on the book pages as you would for a print book. Our webstore is still in “beta” mode for ebook purchasing, so please be patient with us. We know it’s a bit clunky. At any time after you make an ebook purchase in our webstore, you can access and download your ebook titles by clicking the “My Account” link at the very top of any of our website pages, logging in, and then clicking the “Download Ebooks and Digital Media” link.

Keep up with new releases weekly at Ye Olde eBook Shoppe or on our New Releases web page. Finally, we have collected several requests from you already for our forthcoming eBooks email newsletter, and we’ll soon have a sign-up link at Ye Olde eBook Shoppe (which we’ll also announce on this blog)—and, shortly after that, regular emails on the way to you.

Please post your questions, requests and comments!

—The Behind the Books Team

An eBook Update

Since our last post about IVP’s work on eBooks back in February (eBooks Are Here!), we’ve made progress on several fronts. Here is the latest news for all of you who are eBook fans:

We have just received our first batch of ePub and Mobi files for 10 titles that we had converted by Aptara and eBook Architects. Several of us have been poring over them and testing them out on a variety of ereading software and devices. Our vendors did great work, and we are learning a lot from this first batch about how best to handle fonts, style sidebars or callouts, and link endnotes—among other things. We’ve got a few corrections to make, and then we’ll release these titles to Amazon, Google, Christian Book Distributors AND two new resellers we just signed up with, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

So, by early July, look for these titles available in ePub or Mobi format from this growing group of resellers:

• Invitation to Solitude and Silence
• Too Busy Not to Pray
• Discipleship Essentials
• Leadership Essentials
• The Dawkins Delusion
• Small Faith—Great God
• The Gift of Being Yourself

We also plan to make these titles available for sale ourselves. Whether through our partner resellers or our own webstore, complete details on all our eBook titles will be posted as they become available at Ye Olde eBook Shoppe.

Happy eReading!

—The Behind the Books Team

eBooks are Here!

With the recent launch of the Google Bookstore, we’re pleased to offer you an additional venue to find all of your favorite IVP ebooks. We now have over 250 titles available, including classics, such as The Universe Next Door and Too Busy Not to Pray, and newer releases, such as The Leadership Ellipse, Justification and Mobilizing Hope.

According to director of digital publishing, Sally Craft, “We are making available as many of our titles in as many digital formats and through as many resellers as possible—including at our IVP Online webstore—so that customers can choose how they’d like to read our books.”

For Amazon’s Kindle, for instance, you’ll find over 600 titles ranging from new releases, such as The Accidental Anglican, Defending Constantine and The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor, to popular books that have been around for a while, such as Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes and Know What You Believe.

We’ve recently partnered with ChristianBook.com to make their books available in ePub format. Current titles available include a variety of ministry resources, such as The Big Book on Small Groups, The Glory of Preaching and Sustainable Youth Ministry.

We're also teaming up with ReadHowYouWant to offer 63 titles for large-print, Braille and DAISY print-on-demand editions. “Partnering with ReadHowYouWant allows us to make our books accessible in formats we are not able to publish on our own, and we are excited about expanding the ministry of our books to a wider audience,” notes International Rights Manager Ellen Hsu.

Complete details of all our digital offerings can be found at Ye Olde eBook Shoppe.

Happy eReading!

-The Behind the Books Team

Yes, We Do Have Books for Your Kindle!

Several loyal readers have asked us recently if we offer digital versions of our books.

Our answers are “Yes” and “Almost.”

First, the “Yes”

Already there are more than 200 InterVarsity Press books available for Amazon.com’s Kindle. You can visit the Kindle store and search for “InterVarsity Press” to see their listing. Or you can download our list as either a PDF or an XLS document. To pique your interest, here are the top 10 IVP downloads for the Kindle since January 2009: