Xenite.Org XML Channels

The Electronic Publishing Channel

You can read about XML Content Channels here. These services are used to provide special windows filled with useful links.

What is Electronic Publishing?

Electronic publishing refers to the distribution of information, art, or software in any eletronic form, usually on some type of physical medium such as CD-ROM, floppy disk, or magnetic tape, or across a computer network, such as the Internet or a publicly accessible dial-up bulletin board or online service. The material must be distributed outside of the organization which is providing it. Art in this case includes works of fiction as well as graphical or musical compositions. Multimedia productions may be classified as information, art, or software.

Internet publishing is a form of electronic publishing. Publishing materials on the Internet usually occurs through Web sites, FTP sites, or distribution of files or articles to mailing lists or news groups. A distinction is usually made between the creation of material for public consumption and participating in online discussion fora in that the former type of electronic publication provides no direct means of rebuttal or refutation, whereas discussion groups and mailing lists facilitate the free exchange of information through direct communication (followups to messages posted to the forum).

Electronic distribution of information, art, or software through the World Wide Web or FTP sites or, in some cases, through mailing lists or news groups is divided into commercial and non-commercial distributions or publishing. Commercial publishing is any form of distribution intended to generate a revenue or return above cost of transmission or production. Non-commercial distribution mail entail fees or other revenues intended to recoup the cost of transmission or production but no more than that. Non-commercial distribution also includes free distributions for which no fees or no revenues are involved.

The average personal Web site is an example of a non-commercial form of distribution. The Web site may provide information, art, or software in the form of HTML-formatted text to be read through a browser, special plug-ins to be processed by a browser, or files to be downloaded by individuals visiting the Web site. The inclusion of banners from advertising networks and/or affiliate links to commission-based programs from online retailers blurs the distinctions between commercial and non-commercial Web sites.

For our purposes, a commercial web or FTP site is defined as any Web site owned and operated by an individual, business, or other corporate concern for the sole purpose of producing revenue. A commercial Web or FTP site may appear to be no more sophisticated in design or function than the average non-commercial Web or FTP site. Most commercial Web or FTP sites, however, will not rely solely upon affiliate links to generate revenues. They may, on the other hand, rely solely upon banner advertising or other special forms of advertising to produce revenues.

Any Web or FTP site which charges a fee for downloading the information, art, or software it provides, where the fee more than covers the cost of distribution or production, is for our purposes a commercial Web or FTP site. NOTE: This is not a legal definition and should not be used for determining the status of a distribution source for any legal proceedings. An attorney should be consulted in such matters.

What is an Electronic Publisher?

An electronic publisher is the individual, business, or organization responsible for distributing the electronic form of information, art, or software being pubished electronically. An electronic pubisher, or ePublisher, may be publishing as a commercial enterprise or as a non-commercial enterprise.

A publishing enterprise may be any Web or FTP site, but for our purposes we will confine our investigation to Webzines, news sites, multimedia providers, and eBook publishers.

A Webzine is any Web site constructed so as to publish a concise, discrete amount of information, art, or software on a regular or semi-regular basis, distinguishing between pubicications by issue and/or volume numbers. Irregular publication does not disqualify a site from being considered as a Webzine. Any Webzine which has not published new material in at least six months is for our purposes regarded as inactive, unless its schedule is annual or semi-annual.

A Web-book is any Web site constructed so as to publish a concise, discrete amount of information, art, or software which would -- in printed form -- meet the minimal criteria for being regarded as a book if printed in book form (i.e., with pages and binding, encased by a "cover"). The design of the Web site need not convey any visual resemblance to a physical book. Generally speaking, any Web site which provides at least 40,000 words of content under a single topic may qualify as a Web-book, but there is no generally accepted standard for making such a determination.

An eBook is any book-length material (textual, artistic, both, or other) which is specifically formatted for distribution as a complete object, either a text file or a specially formatted file (such as may only be processed by a special reader).

An eArticle is any material shorter than book-length which is distributed electronically. The eArticle may be part of a larger collection of material or an indepedent presentation.

The content of a one-page Web site may be regarded as a single eBook or eArticle depending on length. Larger, multi-page Web sites may offer one or more eBooks or eArticles.

What is the purpose of the Electronic Pubishing Channel?

This channel is provided as a free service for individuals seeking to learn more about specific Electronic Publishing industries such as commercial eBook publishers and commercial Webzine publishers. We provide a brief list of links (of which we are presently limited to 15) we have selected. These links will take you to Web sites which provide detailed information about aspects of electronic publishing, including but not necessarily limited to technical sites, industry news Webzines, ePublishing associations, and related sites.

With one exception, we do not provide links to specific eBooks or individual authors or eBook Publishers. You are expected to find such links on the Web sites we are directing you to. Nor do we provide links to Webzines (or Webjournals) which do not address the ePublishing industries or technologies directly.

We may, at our discretion, include from time to time links to special directories of ePublications, ePublishers, and other specialized resources associated with ePublishing.