Bookworm is an experimental platform for storing and reading ePub-format books online.
How does it work? What do I download?
The great thing about Bookworm is there's nothing to download! Here's how it works:
- Create a Bookworm account and log in
- Upload an ePub book
- Start reading by just clicking on the book title in your library!
Because your books are stored on the Bookworm site, you can read them from any web browser and on most mobile web devices, anywhere in the world! We're working on ways for you to read your book content on your mobile phone even when you aren't connected to the internet.
Take the tour to see an example of Bookworm in action.
What is ePub?
ePub is the open ebook standard developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It is based on a number of other open standards including XHTML, making ePub books ideally suited to be read on web browsers.
ePub books can be read on your home computer (using Bookworm, Adobe Digital Editions or Stanza), on your iPhone (using Bookworm or Stanza) and on the Sony Reader
Can I use Bookworm on my mobile device?
Absolutely! A special version of the site optimized for mobile devices (especially
the iPhone) is available at http://m.bookworm.oreilly.com/.
Bookworm has also been tested on the Blackberry, Opera Mobile, Skyfire and the Kindle's Whispernet service.
In addition to reading material directly on Bookworm, iPhone users can export their Bookworm books to Stanza. For more information, see the tour.
Where can I get ePubs?
As of March 2009, many publishers are getting on board with ePub. O'Reilly, Penguin, Harper-Collins and Random House have all released titles in the format. An updated list of ePub bookstores can be found at epubbooks.com.
I'm not able to read this ePub book I uploaded
There may be a problem with the e-book (many publishers are still learning how to create them), or there may be a bug in Bookworm. If you encounter an error while uploading or reading a book, the Bookworm developers are automatically notified and will fix the problem if possible.
It may also be that you've uploaded a book that includes Digital Rights Management (DRM). Bookworm does not support DRM'ed books. Check the website where you purchased the book for information on how to read it (and complain to the publisher that you can't read your books where you'd like!)
Please also see the Help page for more tips on troubleshooting Bookworm.
I'm a publisher and I have questions or feature requests
Threepress is a publisher-serving corporation with many years of experience in building products in the industry. We would be happy to discuss the ePub format, getting your books into ePub and even extending Bookworm with custom features for your publications. Please contact bookworm@oreilly.com and we'll get back to you right away.
Will other book formats be supported, such as PDF or mobi? What about DRM ebooks?
Bookworm is meant to push adoption of the open ePub format and there are no plans to support closed formats like mobi or those with limited flexibility like PDF.
DRM (digital rights management) has been shown to be detrimental to technology adoption, does not significantly prevent piracy, and provides a terrible user experience. Bookworm will never support DRM'ed ebooks that require special software to unlock. Instead we encourage publishers to explore forms of "soft" DRM (such as watermarking digital books with the name of the purchaser).
Is it possible to share my books with other Bookworm users, or link to one of my books?
There is limited support for sharing on Bookworm. Books that are in the public domain, books uploaded by their own authors, or publishers who authorize books to be public can all make Bookworm books accessible to the larger internet.
Public books are in a very early beta stage. To request that a book be made public, please contact bookworm@oreilly.com for more information.
Are my books securely stored and backed up?
Although books are backed up, Bookworm is not a commercial product and has limited financial and legal resources. No guarantees are provided for the security of your books or the reliability of the service. Store copies of all your books on your own computers.
Who is responsible for Bookworm?
Bookworm software is free and available for download under the terms of the BSD license from the tools page. It is a product of Threepress, a venue for experimenting with open source publishing software, and was written by Liza Daly with contributions from Keith Fahlgren and others. Hosting is provided by O'Reilly Media.
Bookworm has been made possible by many individuals who have helped with testing and supported the project throughout:
- Andrew Savikas and the rest of the Tools of Change team at O'Reilly Media
- Jon Noring
- Mike Cook
- David Rothman
- Ryan Pollock
- Dan Schmidt
For problems and feature requests, visit Get Satisfaction or the open source issue tracker.