[yahejazi]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for everything you’ve done to help students overcome the LSAT. I recently purchased the iBooks version of The LSAT Trainer, but have found that it’s really restrictive compared to other iBooks. There is no table of contents, zoom feature, or highlight feature. I sit at a distance from my computer, and it’s somewhat difficult to read the contents of the book.

My question is: will there be an updated version of the iBooks version of the Trainer with such features? I really think LSAT students will get far more out of your book if they’re able to have the same features that are traditionally found in other iBooks.

Thanks so much!

[Mike Kim]

Hey Yaheyjazi —

Thank you for the kind comments and for letting me know about your experiences with the iBook —

On our end, because the paperback version has an unusual, non-linear layout, we have two options for turning it into an eBook —

1) Redesign the book from scratch specifically for eBooks

2) Release a fixed-layout eBook version of the paperback (which brings with it the disadvantages you mentioned)

Unfortunately, at this time the cost and time required for the first option, combined with the relatively small market for eBook LSAT textbooks, prevents #1 from being a viable option.

So, on our end, it was a choice of releasing a fixed-layout eBook or none at all, and we decided to release the fixed-layout version, despite the disadvantages.

Down the line, we may be able to make a few improvements, such as possibly creating a linked table of contents — but there won’t be any major changes made for a while.

We do mention this in the book description and sell the book at a reduced price (relative to the paperback) because of these restrictions, but I realize that doesn’t do you a whole lot of good.

I also want to mention in case you have access to an iPad that viewing the book on one can improve your experience quite a bit. I imagine you would have already tried that if you could but just wanted to throw that out there.

Sorry again for the frustrations you are having, and thank you again for telling me about them — if there is any way I can make it up to you, let me know —

Mike

[yahejazi]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for getting back to me and explaining the rationale behind the decision.

Are you 100% sure that adding a zoom feature, highlight feature, and a table of contents would interfere with the overall formatting of the respective pages? I have found that, while viewing PDFs for example, I can zoom in as much as I want and still remain on the same page.

Perhaps you could charge a little bit more upon adding those features, making it a win-win?

In any case, thank you for making the iBooks version in the first place, and for all your helpful tips.

[Mike Kim]

Hi Yahejazi —

Thanks for your comments —

As I mentioned, many of the limitations you are experiencing are due to the nature of how fixed layout books work, and for now it’s not a viable option for us to create a non-fixed layout version —

I hope you can still get good use out of the book, and if there is anything I can help with, let me know —

MK