When the ebook hype is justified

There is a lot to say for the argument that ebooks are getting a disproportionate amount of media attention given the fact that they have yet to make anything more than small inroads into sales of paper books.

And, despite recent growth, I think ebooks will continue to have limited commercial appeal until their full potential is realised. While the standard format for ebooks (epub) allows such things as hyperlinking and the embedding of Flash files (assuming your chosen e-reader can deal with them), its set of features is still rather limited, and most ebooks are in any case no more than electronic copies of their paper cousins.

It's as if we haven't quite yet begun to appreciate what more might be possible or, perhaps more accurately, what more might be marketable. Because no matter how many features you load on to your ebook, it won’t sell unless they are features people want. There's no point in developing new products and formats just because we can.

Nevertheless, we have a unique opportunity to redefine exactly what a 'book' is. Which is why it's exciting to see companies such as Macmillan taking a lead, as reported on the Bookseller website. This new range of customisable textbooks looks like a well thought out and well researched response to a clear set of problems and needs.