I think nonfiction publishing is headed in a very interesting direction, and one of the main reasons for that is the development of e-books. For example, I work for Kaplan Publishing, and lately we’ve been putting a lot of effort into enhancing our e-books. In an e-book, you can include interactive questions, videos—the possibilities are astonishing. Roots just came out as an enhanced e-book, and it includes interviews with the author that were done when the book originally came out. That was in the late seventies, so it is a very different time, but the information in the interviews is quite fascinating. It’s almost like watching a documentary.
The kinds of enhancements you can use in e-books are really exciting, especially for nonfiction. Of course, that’s not to say people won’t still read books. I still believe there are many, many topics that are best presented in book form. Still, the e-book revolution is extremely exciting for a number of reasons. First, it gives you an opportunity to do incredible things with books. For example, in a test prep book, you can include flash cards so that readers can quiz themselves on smart phones. Instead of sitting at home with a box of flash cards and a study partner, you can take that information you’re trying to master with you wherever you go. E-books also make it much easier to learn while you’re reading. For example, I just did a series of classic books in which we highlighted words that are likely to be found in the SAT. So say you’re reading through Jane Eyre, for example, and you come to a word you’re not familiar with. All you have to do is tap the word and it takes you to a definition and then back. How cool is that? Of course, I still love books in print, but e-books give publishers the opportunity to provide readers with more information in a controlled space, and that’s a wonderful thing.