Digital textbooks have become a symbol of the growing ebook market. It seems that there’s so many expectations and debates around e-textbooks. They sound great, but what about the used textbook market? And how will they differentiate from their paper versions? Macmillan thinks they have an answer, and after watching their presentation today I think it has a great deal of potential!

They are calling their e-textbooks DynamicBooks, and it is unlike any other digital book concept. Essentially it is taking the user input concepts from Wikipedia with the content of a digital textbook and mashing them together. Professors can rearrange order of the material, they can add video links and commentary, and they can even change around the content! For example, in their demo, they showed a professor adding in a YouTube video that tied in with the concept in the textbook. The entire process went smoothly, and the embedded video looked like it belonged with the content, it all flowed so well.

Obviously this has big repercussions for the sciences, where you can add new discoveries and links to new information as it appears in the field. At the same time, I can see this being a boon to the humanities as well. I majored in Philosophy and minored in Women’s Studies, and probably 1/3 of my course “textbooks” were really books that we used for one session, or for a particular article or reference. I could easily see a philosophy professor being able to take a book on “Plato’s Republic” and rather than augment it with three other assigned books, use various resources to branch out from key passages and cover the same concepts without requiring extra books. Also, I would love to see a copy of “Plato’s Republic” that included video clips from “The Matrix“.

The next step in all this will be to have textbook that have been what they are calling “Dynamically authored”. In other words, instead of taking an existing paper version of a textbook and adapting it to this new format, authors will write their textbooks FOR this format, allowing for more flexibility and tailoring to the medium. Best of all, DynamicBooks will be priced significantly below paper textbooks, in some cases 40-50% cheaper.

The Kindle DX famously failed in its e-textbook experiment. Will DynamicBooks succeed in its wake? They certainly have a great mix of ingredients; digital content, optional printed content, even an iPhone application! And as you can tell from the above video, Macmillan is looking for input from real students as well. We’ll see if universities and students take to it…but I for one am very curious and excited to find out!

Check out the full press release below, then let us know in the comments what you think of DynamicBooks! If you’re a student, are you anxious to try these?

New Macmillan Subsidiary, DynamicBooks, Redefines Interactive Textbooks for Higher Education

Digital Publishing Platform Allows Professors to Customize Publisher’s Textbooks, Then “Publish” Affordable Digital and Print Versions for Their Students

New York, February 22, 2010 — DynamicBooks, a new subsidiary of Macmillan, unveiled today a new digital publishing platform that allows instructors to freely customize and modify some of today’s most respected textbooks. Using the DynamicBooks’ editing tools, instructors can tailor world-class content to suit their classroom needs by editing existing content or adding new text or media assets. Once instructors “publish” their custom book, their students can choose to purchase either a fully featured digital text or a printed version of the new book.

DynamicBooks was created in close partnership with Ingram Content Group Inc. and utilizes Ingram’s successful VitalSource Bookshelf platform and Lightning Source print-on-demand capability.

DynamicBooks seeks to lower costs to students and is working with its publisher partners to do so. As an example, Bedford, Freeman and Worth books will be available in digital form for 40-50 percent of the price of traditional books.

“DynamicBooks strives to put control of world-class textbook content into the hands of instructors. Our easy-to-use custom publishing platform allows instructors to create tailored versions of many of today’s most popular textbooks, and then instantly publish them for their students in both digital and print versions,” said Clancy Marshall, General Manager of DynamicBooks. (Marshall will demonstrate DynamicBooks at the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference in New York on Wed, Feb 24 at 8:30 a.m. in the Broadway North room.)

“Most college students don’t read textbooks anymore,” said Charles Grisham, professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia. “Students jump from point to point as they do on the Internet. It’s also safe to say that no textbook has completely matched every instructor’s syllabus. DynamicBooks offers instructors and authors a better way to convey content that is more relevant and creative-minded, and that mirrors the always interactive environment in which students live.”

Brian Napack, President of Macmillan, said: “DynamicBooks is a win for everyone. Instructors and students get more engaging, more relevant textbooks; our authors get a more engaged community of instructors; and publishers get to deliver more powerful content, made so through collaboration with their customers,” he continued, “The rapid launch of DynamicBooks represents an extension of our deep partnership with Ingram, who were uniquely positioned to deliver both state-of-the-art e-book and print-on-demand platforms.

David “Skip” Prichard, President and CEO of Ingram Content Group Inc. said: “Ingram Content Group has invested in innovative technology tools to enable the creation of customized textbooks. We are excited that Macmillan has chosen VitalSource to offer this capability to educators.”

The digital textbook package includes online access; a downloadable version; and an iPhone application. Students can annotate or highlight and search terms or their notes in their DynamicBook and can print from within the application. Printed, bound versions are also available in black and white or full color. Students can order these books from retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Follett.

Using podcasts, video clips, animation, equation editors, graphing tools, and their own content, instructors can customize a textbook to better match their teaching style and class focus. Instructor edited content will be highlighted as changed from the original text and attributed to the instructor who made the change. All original content and original multimedia additions will be copyrighted by the instructor.

Authors can develop more of a community relationship with instructors to share ideas and improve the content.

DynamicBooks’ platform is powered by VitalSource, a leader in digital books technology and further enhanced by on demand printing and fulfillment through Ingram Content Group. Book industry partners include Macmillan’s Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishers and Hayden McNeil Publishers.

DynamicBooks currently offers 20 of today’s most popular science and math books. More titles are being added each week in subjects such as psychology, economics and statistics. Bedford, Freeman and Worth has committed to adding many of its most popular textbooks to the platform in the months to come.

DynamicBooks will be available for purchase at the DynamicBooks website and college bookstores August 1st.

About Ingram

Ingram Content Group Inc. provides a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Ingram’s operating units are Ingram Book Company, Lightning Source Inc., Ingram Digital, VitalSource Technologies, Ingram Periodicals Inc., Ingram International Inc., Ingram Library Services Inc., Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., Ingram Publisher Services Inc., Tennessee Book Company LLC, Coutts Information Services, and Ingram Marketing Group Inc. For more information visit www.ingramcontent.com

About Macmillan

DynamicBooks is a subsidiary of Macmillan, one of the world’s largest and best-known English-language publishers. www.dynamicbooks.com.

Macmillan is a global publisher of books, magazines, educational content, tools, and services, scientific information, and digital media. In the US, the group includes Farrar, Straus & Giroux; Henry Holt; St. Martin’s Press; Tor Books; Picador; Macmillan Audio; Bedford St. Martin’s; W.H. Freeman; Worth Publishers; Hayden-McNeil; i>clicker; and Scientific American. Macmillan is a subsidiary of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, GMbH, a global media company based in Stuttgart, Germany. www.macmillan.com