Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Better Embedded System Software e-Book & Paperback

There are only a handful of hardcover books left of the first edition, so I spend some time converting things over to an eBook & Paperback edition.

Amazon Kindle: https://amazon.com/gp/product/B08TZ9LYXC

Smashwords (epub): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1264918

Barnes & Noble (ebook): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/philip%20koopman

This is not a 2nd edition, but more like version 1.1.  The changes are:

  • Some minor rewording and cleanup.
  • A few small sections rewritten to reflect lessons I've learned about how to better explain things from teaching courses.  However, scope remains the same and the hardcover book is still serviceable if you already have that.
  • A new summary list of high-level takeaways in the conclusions chapter.
  • Publication support for everywhere KDP reaches, with local distribution in all supported markets.
The paperback is probably what you'd expect given the above, and is Print-On-Demand with production handled directly by Amazon.  There is no index due to publication platform issues. However, the table of contents is pretty well structured and in most cases that will get you where you need to go.  The price is significantly lower than the hardcover, and non-US readers can get it printed and shipped from someplace much closer to home since KDP has local POD for markets in Europe and Asia.

Amazon indicates they will print-on-demand for the following markets: US, DE, ES, FR, IT, UK, JP and CA.  Some readers report availability in other markets as well (for example, AU). So try your usual Amazon marketplace first, then one of the others close to you to minimize shipping cost.

The eBook is reflowable text for the body text (authored in EPUB format, but Amazon changes formats I believe).  Bitmaps are used for figures and equations, so it should look fine on most viewing devices without symbol font issues.  The price is significantly lower than the paperback since production and distribution costs are much lower.

Amazon has worldwide distribution rights for the eBook, but availability varies based on which country your device is set up for.  If your kindle is set up as being in the US market then you should have no troubles purchasing.  Many other markets (especially in Europe) should be fine as well.  Amazon promises e-boook availability in these specific markets: US (.com), IN, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, JP, BR, CA, MZ, AU.

The book is published via KDP, but Digital Rights Management (DRM) is OFF.  That should help folks with non-Amazon viewers (but I'm not able to provide support for how to side-load onto whatever platform).  If you have Kindle or a machine that runs the Kindle App then it should be seamless as with any other Kindle book.

I really appreciate the support of the thousands of readers of the hardcover edition over the past years. I hope that this makes the material more broadly available!


6 comments:

  1. Hello Prof. Koopman
    this is a really great news! It was not easy to get hardcover version here (Poland) at reasonable price. I just like that good feeling of reading a physical book. Already ordered this new paperback on German amazon :)
    Thank you for providing a lot quality material on your blog and websites.

    With kind regards from Poland,
    Marcin Janicki

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Marcin, I'm so glad you're able to get it now! Yes, this is precisely the reason I went with Amazon so that international readers could get access. Happy reading :)
    -- Phil

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is there an alternative channel to Amazon? I don't do business with them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Which channel do you have in mind, and which part of the world? I can't make promises but I can make suggestions if there is sufficient demand.

    More immediately, it seems that the availability of a paperback edition has improved availability on the non-Amazon used book market. For example try a search on https://www.addall.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey, just purchased the book from amazon and it looks like it's DRM protected and cannot convert it to epub :(

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm sorry to hear about that experience. I just checked the kindle eBook content page and can confirm that DRM is definitely OFF for this book. (Moreover, due to Amazon policy I can never turn it on even if I wanted to.) So not sure what the issue might be. I guess you can ask Amazon for a refund if this does not meet your expectations. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    ReplyDelete

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