The process of creating digital versions of physical books, records, manuscripts, magazines etc,. Is called Book digitization/digitalization. As content is made available online in digital formats, there is an implicit need for publishers to digitize their publications (especially book publishers) in acceptable formats that reduce the file size, allow formatting, enable search features etc,.

The following are the reasons on the need for digitization of books:

a) Reach:

WIth digital books, users who consume content online can extend market reach and tap potential readers.

b) Space:

Digital books save space – both for publishers and readers. Publishers no longer need physical space to store books and hence can eliminate the cost of space, storage and rent. Readers can carry a whole library of digital books on their smart devices and read in the comfort of their homes or on the move by reading books online or via offline mode.

c) Share:

Digital books are easy to share especially via the cloud.

d) Cost-Effectiveness:

Digital books help to reduce/eliminate costs of rent and storage associated with physical books. Reduced cost of printing, maintaining physical copies and managing equipment are added advantages in the form of cost benefits. Digital copies can be replicated with no or extra minimal cost.

e) Restore:

Maintaining digital books is easy and can bring life to damaged books.

f) Eco-Friendly:

Digital books help to save paper thus leaving no carbon footprint by remaining eco-friendly.

Now, let’s look at how can publishers digitize books:

1) Digital Images:

Physical books need to be scanned at scale to create digital images by carefully considering the type of the book and determining the scale of digitization.

2) Clean the PDF:

Once the physical book is scanned, ensure to clean it for errors via deleting empty pages, fixing age orientation. Retain a copy of the digital book via making the PDF searchable on the internet will be useful.

3) Color Management:

Using a standardized color profile as per ISO certified standards on the scanner and the printer will help in better color management with the digital books.

4) Image Resolution:

The ideal recommended DPI for high image resolution, better digital books is 300 for grayscale and color originals, 400 for manuscripts and 600 for black and white originals.

5) Index Digital Books:

Indexing will help digital books making them easy to search and findable.

6) Quality Check:

Ideally, a manual check to address all errors to keep up the quality for the digital books is essential.

7) Leverage using Metadata:

Appending digital books with metadata will make it searchable on the internet.

8) Store on the Cloud:

Storing the digital books on the cloud platform will enable the audience for easy re-use, backup and duplication as when required, per need basis.

Conclusion:

Digitization of books is the need of the hour in this digital world.  It helps to tap a wider audience, across geographies via remaining cost-effective with minimal extra costs, and reduced storage and maintenance costs.

Readers and hence content consumption habits are unique and hence publishers need to focus on offering reliable solutions to generate a loyal audience base.

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