Seeking advice from publishers

["B.G. Sloan" <bgsloan2@yahoo.com>]

My father hosted his 90th birthday party this weekend. During the 
festivities one of my uncles pulled me aside to ask for advice.

My uncle is a publisher. The company he owns focuses mostly on 
about 60-70 titles in the construction trades. The titles are, 
for the most part, textbooks that are used in construction 
engineering courses in colleges and community colleges, as well 
as in construction and building trades schools.

His publishing company has been successful in the print-based 
world. He is now moving into electronic textbook publishing. He 
is uncertain about how to handle some aspects. For example, how 
does he do pricing, including enterprise-wide subscription 
pricing within a specific institution? Or how does he protect his 
intellectual property so that he minimizes the risk of one 
student downloading a textbook and giving copies to the rest of 
his classmates?

Can you all recommend some good resources for publishers that are 
moving from the print-based to the electronic world? I'm thinking 
that someone must have put together some "how-to" information for 
people making the transition from print to electronic. Even a 
checklist of questions to consider would be a good starting 
point.

Thanks in advance!

Bernie Sloan
Sora Associates
Bloomington, IN