Is there any chance that these fantastic publications might be published in an electronic format? Kindle? Maybe even a simple Pdf? My Kindle can handle either.
The portability and ability to search and add our own notes would be fantastic.
cam
Posts: 8 | Location: Fort Worth, TX, USA | Registered: July 05, 2007
Good news: TDCAA will produce its first e-books this fall. We will start with two books: the Penal Code and the CCP, both with the strikethrough/underline format AND the annotations from Criminal Laws of Texas. Each will be available in the three main e-publishing formats: Kindle, iBooks, and Nook.
Purchases of the e-books will be made through Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble, rather than through TDCAA. As we get closer to publication time, which will likely be in October (we'll be working on the hard copy books first, once the legislature wraps up), we'll provide more details on the TDCAA website.
The Penal Code and CCP e-books are still in the process of being formatted by our subcontractor. (Getting all the strikethrough and underline correct in translating to an e-book format is trickier than anticipated.)
We haven't yet set a price, and I don't yet know a release date until we get the formatted files back from the formatting company, but you can count on us putting a big notice on the front page of the TDCAA website when the books are available.
I can tell you this much:
1. The Penal Code (PC only, with both strikethrough/underline and annotations) will be released first. CCP will follow, hopefully within a month of the Penal Code's release.
2. Our plan is to have the books available for purchase from Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble in Kindle, iBook, and Nook format. TDCAA will not be selling the e-books books directly.
And please remember that these are early test versions of e-book publishing for TDCAA. We will see how these go, both in terms of sales and user-friendliness, before we make any commitment to publishing any additional books in electronic format. We'll look forward to hearing what you think!
Thanks for your patience! We're a two-employee book department attempting to put out 16 new editions of TDCAA books in a five-month period.
Thanks for the replies and kind words, everybody! Here's the great news: Our first e-book (Penal Code with strikethrough AND annotations) is in the works with both Amazon (for Kindles) and Barnes & Noble (for Nooks). Surprisingly, Apple has been a lot more difficult to deal with, and it's hard to predict when we will be up for sale on Apple. So those of you with iPads can either hold off for the iBook version or download a Nook or Kindle app.
The Penal Code will cost $20, and the CCP (which will follow shortly -- hopefully within a couple of weeks) will be $25. The CCP also will have strikethrough/underline and annotations.
I will tell you that the version you read on Barnes & Noble or Apple will be "prettier." Kindle/Amazon only allow one font, so it's a little harder to tell the law apart from the annotations. That's just my font-geek opinion, though.
So far, the application process has gone smoothly, and the books should be available for sale in 24-48 more hours. When we see them up, we'll post something on the TDCAA website for sure.
LAS: Not at this point. New editions of Traffic Stops and DWI will be coming to every office (one book per prosecutor) courtesy of the TxDOT grant. We will also be sending six laminated sheets to every prosecutor on forensic evidence. These sheets are part of an ongoing forensic evidence project, in which we hope to add new topics each year. The first year's topics are: blood evidence, drug toxicology, fingerprints, eyewitness ID, DNA, and collision reconstruction.
Apple takes a little bit longer than Amazon or Barnes & Noble, I've found, in getting the ebooks up for sale. I uploaded the e-book file to Apple yesterday (11/8), and hopefully, it will be available for sale in the next 24-48 hours or so.
Still waiting to get the CCP files back from our formatter -- hopefully within the next week or so -- and then I'll upload them to Amazon, B&N & Apple. The Amazon and B&N files were available for purchase within 24 hours of my upload. We'll post something on the TDCAA website when CCP is available for sale.
Thanks for your interest and for the purchases, everybody!
Okay, I have my eCCP. And, thanks to TDCAA and Diane Beckham for it.
Now if I were to make a wish list, I would wish for an e-book of Chapter 481 Health and Safety Code. (Not really, I would wish for world peace or the winning lotto ticket.)
Posts: 956 | Location: Cherokee County, Rusk, Tx | Registered: July 11, 2001