Once you’ve completed your adaptation, you will need to decide who to share your work with—your students, your colleagues, the bookstore and library at your institution, the open community—and how to do this. Also, what file types will you provide, what ancillary resources will you/could you include, and how will you ensure longevity for your work?

Publishing your Book in Pressbooks

Once you are ready to have your book visible and accessible to the public you can toggle the book from “Private” to “Public” at the top of the “Organize” tab. If you wish to hide an individual chapter or section, you can use the “Show in Web” toggles to leave these private.

You can also change the visibility of the book when searching the Pressbooks Directory. Under “Settings” click on “Sharing & Privacy” and choose “Yes” or “No” by Pressbooks Directory.

Preparing Export Options in Pressbooks

In addition to the web view of your book, Pressbooks can create common export formats such as PDFs for digital or print distribution or EPUB files for use on an eBook reader. Making these available is not required but can be beneficial as it gives students more options on how they will engage with your book. More details on preparing export options are available in the Pressbooks User Guide – Export Your Book.

File Types

Students like flexibility when it comes to their textbooks. Some may prefer printed versions of the textbook; others will prefer using a website. Still others will prefer to use an e-reader or e-reading software. To make your book as accessible as possible, consider making your textbook available in multiple formats so students have the ability to choose the format that works for them. Also remember to include editable files so that others can use your work to create their own adaptations. Pressbooks allows a variety of files to be export from your book, both editable (.xml, .odt, .html, .epub) and less editable (.pdf).

Other Sharing Methods

For Students and Colleagues, You Can Distribute Your Adapted Textbook By:

• Providing them with a link to the online version.
• Embed a Pressbooks in Canvas

For Your Institution’s Bookstore:

• Provide them with a link to the online version.
• Place copies of the textbook’s file, including a link, on your faculty website.

For Your Institution’s Library:

• A print copy of your OER can be made available if you wish or if students ask for a print option. The downside to this option is it will no longer reflect changes made to the web version. If you are interested in this, contact oer@weber.edu.

Ancillary Resources

Consider providing ancillary resources for your adapted open textbook or asking colleagues with whom you share your adaptation to share back any supplemental materials they develop for the book. These might include:

• PowerPoint slides
• Test bank questions and answers
• Images
• Videos
• Student exercises

The Future of Your Adaptation

Now that you’ve completed your adapted open textbook—whether the changes were minor or major—here are some questions you might ask yourself:

• How will I track who’s using my book?
• How am I going to keep my textbook current?
• Do I want feedback on my work? How will I collect this?

Access Usage Statistics in Pressbooks

You can see page views and other usage statistics for your Pressbook from the Dashboard screen by clicking “View Analytics.” This screen shows you total and individual pageviews over time.