Media

Media Contact

Gabrielle Zucker
Kwittken & Company
(646) 747-7143
gzucker@kwitco.com
Email: gzucker@kwitco.com

Press Releases

• August 27, 2008: One Third of Textbooks Now Available as eTextbooks
• July 24, 2008: New Agreement Makes eTextbooks Available to Students
• May 14, 2008: CourseSmart Selects Ingram Digital to Enable Downloadable eTextbook Initiative
• April 14, 2008: Nebraska Book Company Partners with CourseSmart
• April 14, 2008: CourseSmart Allows Instructors to Evaluate Textbooks

August 27, 2008: One Third of Textbooks Now Available as eTextbooks

Students offer top five reasons for switching to digital books

More than one third of the most popular college textbook titles (those expected to sell at least 200 copies nationwide this Fall) are now available in eTextbook versions from CourseSmart, according to data compiled by industry analysts at R.R. Bowker's PubTrack Business Intelligence Division. Because of this dramatic increase in available eTextbooks, millions of college students can now choose to buy their assigned textbook as an eTextbook.

"Our goal is to offer as many textbooks on CourseSmart as possible so that every student has the opportunity to purchase their assigned textbook as an eTextbook," said CourseSmart CEO Sean Devine. "eTextbooks are a great way to learn and save money and we think all students will benefit from this new choice."

CourseSmart's early student customers agree. "CourseSmart allowed me to purchase and read the material needed for my course at half the cost of the printed book," said Carla Sodano a student at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA. "The ability to print pages and search to go to a certain page helped make studying more effective. Most important was the price and availability. It usually costs approximately $500 per semester for textbooks, but using CourseSmart I saved over $200."

Since its launch in August 2007, students at more than 1,000 colleges and universities have purchased eTextbooks from CourseSmart -- and 80% of these existing customers say they will continue to purchase their assigned textbooks as CourseSmart eTextbooks. What motivated these students to try an eTextbook? The following are the five most common reasons given by existing CourseSmart customers.

1. CourseSmart eTextbooks are less expensive. CourseSmart eTextbooks average 50% of the cost of a new print textbook. Many students prefer the guaranteed savings on eTextbooks versus purchasing print and hoping for a reasonable amount of cash back from selling the print book at the end of the semester. CourseSmart research shows that only 36% of student purchases are actually sold back to the bookstore or to a fellow student as used books and that 65% of students are disappointed in the value they receive when they do sell back.


2. Many students find search an essential tool for learning. For students who already use the web extensively for news, entertainment, and in their jobs, searching is second nature. Students use a textbook to educate themselves on key ideas and provide guidance in problem solving or other skills, and it is often more useful for them to search a textbook than flip pages.


3. eTextbooks can be accessed at anytime, anywhere. Today's students have a mobile lifestyle. The ability to login to any computer at school, home, work, or a lab to study or read, eliminates lots of weight in a student's daily backpack. Students can also instantly access CourseSmart eTextbooks after purchase. This is extremely valuable to students who wait until they are certain they need a textbook before making a purchase.


4. The copy/paste functionality in CourseSmart eTextbooks can't be accomplished with print. Research shows that a high percentage of students use some sort of notes summary to compile their knowledge and study for tests and finals. Integrating content from an eTextbook into a notes summary is easily done with the copy/paste functionality in CourseSmart. Students with a print textbook need to re-type any content they want to include in a notes summary.


5. Selective printing is more environmentally-friendly than buying print texts. Students appreciate the trees saved by purchasing a digital textbook. But many students also value and utilize CourseSmart's printing functionality, which allows students to print up to 10 pages with one click, because they can select what to print for study, carrying, or future reference. Students can print the whole book but very few print more than a few pages, choosing instead to buy the print book if their studying requires a complete printed text.

To experience CourseSmart, log on to www.coursesmart.com. For more information and media interviews, please contact Garen Singer (202) 667-0901, ext 123. For further information feel free to visit our blog at blog.coursesmart.com. CourseSmart LLC was founded by five higher education textbook publishers including Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, John Wiley & Sons Inc., and the Bedford, Freeman, Worth Publishing Group. The company's mission is to improve teaching and learning by providing instructors and students better exposure and access to digital course materials. CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks across hundreds of courses in an eTextbook format on a common platform. In doing so they provide a number of unique benefits to instructors, students, partners and institutions. CourseSmart titles can be purchased at www.coursesmart.com or through hundreds of participating college bookstores.

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July 24, 2008: New Agreement Makes eTextbooks Available to Students

4,000 digital textbooks now available with ED MAP's comprehensive course material solutions

NELSONVILLE, Ohio, July 24 /PRNewswire/ - ED MAP, an industry leader in developing innovative course material solutions for higher education, K-12 and other educational associations, announced today it has established a relationship with CourseSmart, a comprehensive supplier of digital course materials. This relationship increases freedom and choice for educational institutions and faculty while expanding ED MAP's ability to develop tailored solutions that meet their unique course material needs.

CourseSmart partners with leading publishers to supply over 4,000 of the most widely adopted college textbook titles, in eTextbook format, to college students in North America via the Internet. CourseSmart is also the only place that faculty members can review and evaluate textbooks online. Faculty familiarity with the CourseSmart eTextbook will support the goals of the college store in providing this new choice to students.

Northcentral University, a premier provider of educational programs at the Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degree levels in Business, Psychology and Education have partnered with ED MAP to provide quality eTextbooks from CourseSmart for learners in all of its programs. Dr. Lloyd C. Williams, Special Assistant to the President of Northcentral University, said: "The addition of eTextbooks through ED MAP will provide a convenient and cost effective alternative that meets the needs of Northcentral's large and geographically dispersed student population. Working with our faculty, staff and students to understand how to optimize their usage of eTextbooks, ED MAP is supporting the university's ability to seamlessly provide the highest quality, relevant and current knowledge in its varying fields. Our partnership with ED MAP has allowed the dream of currency and relevancy to be achieved while effectively managing the resources of Northcentral University."

"We're excited by this partnership; it fits extremely well with our philosophy of providing value to all stakeholders," said Dr. Michael Mark, CEO, ED MAP. "We think this relationship is beneficial to students, faculty and administrators. CourseSmart represents a tested and reliable solution to delivering digital course materials. Building on our existing services, this relationship takes ED MAP's ability to develop comprehensive course material solutions to a level that few companies can match. "

"One of CourseSmart's key missions is to support innovative companies such as ED MAP in their efforts to bring eTextbook solutions to their customers," said Sean Devine, CourseSmart CEO. "Everyone benefits when eTextbooks are added as real choice for students. And we think that choice is more powerful when combined with the other solutions ED MAP brings to its customers."

About ED MAP, Inc. ED MAP provides tools, support and services for the selection, development and distribution of textbooks in print, customized or digital format. As a distributor, ED MAP ensures students receive the correct course materials in a timely and technically appropriate way. As a partner, ED MAP analyzes institutional and curricular goals to present solutions - then does the heavy lifting required to achieve them.

ED MAP is the only company flexible enough to meet the needs of today's diverse educational marketplace. Our clients include proprietary and career colleges, K-12 online programs and institutions, multi-campus systems, traditional campuses, continuing education and professional associations. Additional information can be found at the company's website: www.edmap.biz.

About CourseSmart LLC CourseSmart is a new venture founded by five higher education textbook publishers including Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, John Wiley & Sons Inc., and the Bedford, Freeman, Worth Publishing Group. The company's mission is to improve teaching and learning by providing instructors and students better exposure and access to digital course materials. CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks across hundreds of courses in an eTextbook format on a common platform. In doing so they provide a number of unique benefits to instructors, students, partners and institutions. Additional information can be found at the company's website: www.coursesmart.com.

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May 14, 2008: CourseSmart Selects Ingram Digital to Enable Downloadable eTextbook Initiative

Pioneering venture founded by six higher education publishers will leverage Ingram Digital's e-book platform to deliver thousands of titles in digital form

New York, NY - Ingram Digital SM, an Ingram Content company focused on solutions for digital content management, distribution and promotion, today announced it has been selected by CourseSmart to enable the company's downloadable eTextbook initiative. Ingram Digital's Education Solutions unit will provide the software platform for CourseSmart's downloadable products.

A venture founded by six of the largest higher education textbook publishers, CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks, across hundreds of courses, on a common e-book platform. CourseSmart currently includes eTextbooks from Pearson, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Houghton Mifflin, Bedford Freeman & Worth Publishing Group and Jones and Bartlett Publishers and is available as a distributor for all higher education textbook publishers.

"In order to fulfill our mission of delivering thousands of the most widely-adopted textbooks on a common e-book platform, we needed a partner whose capabilities were both flexible and scalable," said Sean Devine, CEO of CourseSmart. "Ingram Digital not only fulfilled our technical requirements, it offered unrivaled knowledge of and expertise in the higher education market."

Ingram Digital is currently engaged in the conversion of approximately 3,000 textbooks to be made available for download from the CourseSmart Web site. In addition, Ingram Digital will provide a customized e-book reader application to enrich CourseSmart eTextbooks with interactive functionalities.

"We have been leading the market with solutions designed to meet the academic community's rapidly evolving needs for several years," said William Chesser, Vice President and General Manager of Ingram Digital Education Solutions. "Our role in the CourseSmart downloadable eTextbook initiative exemplifies the type of innovation Ingram Digital is known for in the higher education arena."

ABOUT COURSESMART, LLC

CourseSmart is a new venture founded by six higher education textbook publishers including Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Houghton Mifflin, and the Bedford, Freeman, Worth Publishing Group. The company's mission is to improve teaching and learning by providing instructors and students better exposure and access to digital course materials. CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks across hundreds of courses in an eTextbook format on a common platform. In doing so they provide a number of unique benefits to instructors, students, partners and institutions. Additional information can be found at the company's website: http://www.coursesmart.com.

ABOUT INGRAM DIGITAL

Ingram Digital is an Ingram Content company. Together with Ingram Book Group and Lightning Source Inc., the Ingram Content companies provide a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Ingram Digital provides publishers and other content owners with a comprehensive offering of digital content accession, storage, management and distribution services. Ingram Digital currently has several solution platforms - including MyiLibrary and VitalSource Technologies - which serve the institutional and educational markets respectively. In addition, Ingram Digital also serves the retailer market with full e-book and audio downloads as well as various search-and-discovery and marketing tools such as widgets. For more information, visit www.ingramdigital.com.

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April 14, 2008: Nebraska Book Company Partners with CourseSmart

First-of-its-Kind Agreement Supports College Bookstores Looking to Provide New Digital Choice to Students

LINCOLN, Neb., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Nebraska Book Company, a national leader in the college bookstore industry, announced today it has established a relationship with CourseSmart, a comprehensive supplier of digital course materials, to provide digital content for NBC Jumpbooks(R). The agreement provides college bookstores an excellent opportunity to establish themselves as the primary distribution channel for eTextbooks through a program fully supported by Nebraska Book Company, CourseSmart and the top higher education publishers in the country.

NBC Jumpbooks is an easy-to-use, low-cost solution that provides a complete digital delivery option for the sale and procurement of eTextbooks, allowing bookstores to keep the customer relationship, maintain the viability of the bookstore's brand and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to students. The product is platform agnostic and can be launched with any POS system.

CourseSmart partners with leading publishers to supply over 3,000 college textbook titles, in digital format, to college students in North America via the Internet. CourseSmart is also the only place that faculty members can review and evaluate textbooks online. Faculty familiarity with the CourseSmart eTextbook will support the goals of the college store in providing this new choice to students.

Bryan Pearce, CEO, University Book Store, Inc., University of Washington, said: "The progressive college store is the focal point for delivering creative, meaningful and supportive products, services and solutions to its campus community. We are pleased and excited to collaborate with Nebraska Book Company, our academic publishing partners and CourseSmart in providing a logical, comprehensive and efficient solution for delivery of digital course content to the University of Washington community. This solution leverages University Book Store's critical role as an aggregator of educational materials and processes to further enhance the value we provide to our UW student and faculty customers."

The agreement between Nebraska Book Company and CourseSmart establishes Nebraska as CourseSmart's preferred supplier of eTextbooks to the college store community. This unique relationship both dramatically enhances the available content of NBC Jumpbooks and provides a number of unique benefits to support the college bookstore as the students' preferred distribution channel for digital product.

"We are pleased to be able to establish this relationship with CourseSmart," said, Barry S. Major, Chief Operating Officer, Nebraska Book Company. "We are committed to the ongoing success of bookstores and ensuring bookstores remain a viable option for students when purchasing course materials. This solution provides the industry with a comprehensive eTextbook product that keeps the bookstore as the primary distributor and provides students with an affordable eTextbook solution."

"Nebraska Book Company provides a solid solution, with the market expertise and the distribution channel to reach bookstores," said, Sean Devine, CEO, CourseSmart. "Leveraging NBC's ability to meet the needs of college bookstores supports CourseSmart's goal of increasing the availability of eTextbooks as an option for students. The relationship will also allow CourseSmart to focus on the job of aggregating content from all higher education publishers and providing a valuable eTextbook format for our customers."

About Nebraska Book Company

Nebraska Book Company began in 1915 with a single bookstore near the University of Nebraska campus and now serves more than 2.1 million students through its network of approximately 260 stores located across the country. Our Textbook Division serves more than 2,500 bookstores through the sale of over seven million textbooks, and our Complementary Services Division has installed more than 1,600 technology platforms and e-commerce sites. Additional information about Nebraska Book Company can be found at the company's website: http://www.nebook.com.

About CourseSmart LLC

CourseSmart is a new venture founded by six higher education textbook publishers including Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Houghton Mifflin, and the Bedford, Freeman, Worth Publishing Group. The company's mission is to improve teaching and learning by providing instructors and students better exposure and access to digital course materials. CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks across hundreds of courses in an eTextbook format on a common platform. In doing so they provide a number of unique benefits to instructors, students, partners and institutions. Additional information can be found at the company's website: http://www.coursesmart.com.

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April 14, 2008: CourseSmart Allows Instructors to Evaluate Textbooks Online

Online Service Offers Convenience and Environmental Benefits

BELMONT, California, Apr. 14, 2008 -- CourseSmart LLC, a new venture founded in 2007, has begun providing its online textbook service to the 1.5 million instructors in higher education institutions nationwide. Using CourseSmart, instructors can easily evaluate a broad selection of complete textbooks online without requesting print copies be shipped by the publisher.

CourseSmart currently offers access to more than 3000 of the most widely used textbooks in digital format spanning virtually every academic course area. New titles are added regularly and in some cases, the digital version of the complete textbook is available for review at CourseSmart before the print version is available for distribution. Titles are provided by CourseSmart's publisher partners, who include Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Houghton Mifflin, John Wiley & Sons, Bedford, Freeman & Worth, and Jones & Bartlett, and CourseSmart expects to add additional higher education publishers as partners throughout the year.

Before CourseSmart, instructors looking to evaluate course material from multiple publishers would generally scan several websites and request print exam copies from each publisher. CourseSmart is the first company to offer a service that satisfies this need from one website. "Our goal is to become integral to an instructors' approach to evaluating a wide variety of course material by taking advantage of the convenience and flexibility an online environment can offer," says Sean Devine, CEO of CourseSmart. "In doing so, we will help make the process of evaluating textbooks more effective and efficient for our faculty customers and publishing partners. Once the service is successful, there will also be a considerable environmental benefit to reducing the number of printed books that are created and shipped every year for faculty evaluation."

Feedback from the thousands of instructors who have evaluated textbooks in the CourseSmart Beta site has reinforced the idea that having a broad selection of titles available on one site helps instructors choose the best title for their course. According to David Shaffer, Associate Professor at Westminster College in Pennsylvania, "CourseSmart is an absolutely spectacular way to review texts. I prefer this far and above receiving a print copy. Using CourseSmart to evaluate course material will clearly cut down on waste and will allow me to review a broader collection of textbooks."

Instructors gain access to titles available on CourseSmart by requesting them from the relevant publisher partner, or they can do so at the CourseSmart website. "Even though we're still in the Beta phase of our development, the experience is very complete allowing instructors to take full advantage of our eTextbook reader to quickly evaluate complete textbooks and manage an online bookshelf," said Heather Shelstad, Director of Marketing for CourseSmart's Faculty Programs. "Many tell us they prefer the experience of reviewing online because they can do so easily from wherever they have Internet access. They also value the fact that CourseSmart aggregates a broad collection of titles from the top publishers in our industry at one easy-to-use site. The 'ahaa' moment comes when they realize the titles they are reviewing online are also available to their students as a reliable, lower-cost alternative to print textbooks."

About CourseSmart LLC CourseSmart is a new venture founded by six higher education textbook publishers. The company's mission is to improve teaching and learning by providing instructors and students better exposure and access to digital course materials. CourseSmart brings together thousands of textbooks across hundreds of courses in an eTextbook format on a common platform. In doing so they provide a number of unique benefits to instructors, students, partners and institutions. Additional information can be found at the company's website: www.coursesmart.com.

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