Links between the text and footnotes are also provided, so readers can easily go back and forth without flipping pages back and forth as books usually require. Since there was no precedent for a book being printed and electronically published at the same time, the question of market effects arose when the project was in the planning stages. It's difficult to tell for sure, Professor Mitchell said, although he noted that the first press run of 5,000 copies sold out unusually quickly. Ms. Ehling was more certain about the electronic edition's beneficial effects. About 75 copies of the book have been ordered directly through the Web, Ms. Ehling added.
Many readers partake of both versions.
No one wants to read an entire book off the screen. In contrast, the electronic counterpart, by virtue of the interactive capabilities and hyperlinks, encourages reading small sections at a time and skipping around to related material on other Web sites at the whim of each individual reader. Because the Web is constantly changing and growing, the book will change with it. The site is a lot more than the text that appears in the book. We have to keep going through and pruning out the dead links, and I'll probably add 20 or 30 links tonight.