Do you know that only a small portion of textbooks are available today for download? But what if we say that there’s a way to make all the books downloadable? Yes, it is possible and you can do it by digitizing books!
So, what is book digitization? It is something that every book publisher and library must do. If you just thought “why?”, then keep reading as we are going to cover all your questions in this article. Let’s start with the concept first.
What is Book Digitization?
Book digitization is the process of converting physical books into digital formats. It’s not just books but manuscripts, magazines, records, etc. can also be converted into their respective digital versions.
As more and more people prefer to use eBooks, there is an increasing demand for book digitization. Perhaps the most common reason is due to the ease of carrying thousands of books in just a single, small device. However, it is not the only reason.
The various reasons for the increasing need for book digitization and why you should consider doing it too are discussed next.
Why is it important to Digitize Books?
There’s no doubt that physical books are more charming than digital books. At least, all book readers will agree to it. However, there are still many reasons why you should digitize your books. They are
Extend market reach: Physical books have a limited reach but with digital books, you can reach a wider audience. There is no limitation to extending your reach to potential readers residing in any part of the globe. Indeed, several readers prefer to read in the physical form but today’s millennials prefer to consume content online via their smartphones, laptops, PCs, and decide e-readers like Kindle.
Restore damaged textbooks: Book digitization can bring damaged textbooks to life and revive their value in the online marketplace.
Easy sharing: With eBooks, you don’t have to worry about visiting a brick-and-mortar store for purchasing books or meeting someone in person to share the books. You can just buy them from an eCommerce platform anytime and anywhere and share them with your friends from the cloud or any other platform.
Save space: Digital books can help both publishers and readers to save space. Publishers won’t have to look for physical space to store books, which can eliminate the cost of storage and rent. Readers can carry a library of books with them on their smartphones and access them while on the move or in the comfort of their homes. The best part is that digital books can be accessed both online and offline if downloaded.
Save cost: Aside from helping you to save storage and rent costs, eBooks can also eliminate the cost of printing, managing equipment, and maintaining physical records. After digitization, you can create any number of digital copies you like with minimal or no expenses.
Environment-friendly option: Digital books don’t need paper and hence, won’t leave carbon footprints. That’s why they are an environment-friendly option.
Future-proof books: Digitization is also a great way to keep your books safe from theft, damage, or any kind of loss.
Next, we’ll be discussing how to carry out book digitization yourself. We’ll be mentioning the same in a step-by-step manner so that it is easier for you to comprehend.
How to Digitize your Textbooks?
Follow the steps below for digitizing your textbooks.
1. Creating digital Images
The first thing you need to do is create digital images of your physical book. You can do this with the help of a scanner.
For scanning, you can either take the help of a manual scanner or a commercial scanner. But, if you’re going to digitize books at scale, then using a commercial scanner is advisable. These scanners often use good-quality cameras and have proper light sources.
Commercial scanners are usually of 2 types. One that can perform destructive book scanning and another one that can perform non-destructive book scanning.
2. Cleaning the PDF
Once the book is scanned, you need to clean the PDF files by looking for errors. The below steps will guide you through the process of cleaning.
Delete the empty pages: If you see any blank pages, you can delete them.
Fix the page orientation: Sometimes during scanning, the auto-detect orientation may be on, thereby causing the scanner to flip a few pages by mistake. However, you can avoid it by turning off the feature and ensuring that pages are fed correctly.
Make PDF searchable: By using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software, you can index data and make the PDF searchable on the internet.
Create a backup copy: This step is important if you’re going to use the destructive scanning method. Any accidental deletion or a computer virus can destroy your physical book forever. So, it is advisable to keep a backup of the physical books.
3. Setting higher resolution for images
Higher image resolutions are recommended for digital books. The ideal dpi for grayscale and color originals is 300, black and white originals is 600, and special manuscripts is 400.
4. Managing colors
The reproduction of colors will vary depending on the type of printer and scanner you are using. The best way to manage colors is by creating a standardized color profile that can be used on varied devices. Make sure that it is created based on ICC (International Color Consortium).
5. Conducting quality check
Run a check on the scanned documents for any kind of errors, like double or missing pages, finger marks or shadows on images, poor quality of images, improper cropping, etc. You may find many software solutions for running a quality check but the ideal thing is to do is carry out the quality check manually.
6. Indexing digital books
By indexing, you can classify the digital books, which will make the job of searching and finding easier.
7. Adding metadata
By adding metadata, you can make eBooks easily searchable on the internet.
8. Storing eBooks on the cloud
By storing the digital books on the cloud, you can make them easily available to your audience. Cloud storage will also help you to easily create backups and duplicate digital books. Aside from that, you can also email the PDFs and keep them as copies in your mailbox.
Today, digitizing books is extremely important in the tech-driven world. Just like we discussed earlier, you’ll gain a lot of benefits like reaching a wider audience, achieving cost efficiencies, minimizing extra costs, and so on.
But, to gain those benefits, you need to ensure that the digitization process is done correctly. If you’re unsure about carrying out the process correctly, then it is best to outsource. Look for an reliable partner who can help you convert physical books to eBooks and has experience doing the same.
You can also reach out to us. PGBS is a reputed organization offering professional eBook conversion services. We can carry out book digitization in the most accurate, secure, and quick manner. Besides, the cost to convert a book to an eBook at PGBS is completely cost-effective. So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us now!