FlatWorld is a

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

of college-level

textbooks A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...

and educational supplements. The company was founded in 2007 as Flat World Knowledge by Eric Frank and Jeff Shelstad.

History

In 2007, Flat World Knowledge was founded by Jeff Shelstad and Eric Frank in

Nyack, New York Nyack () is a Village (New York), village primarily located in the Town (New York), town of Orangetown, New York, Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, a small western section of the village lies in Clarkst ...

. By August 2009, Flat World textbooks had been adopted at 400 colleges for use by 40,000 students. In 2010, Flat World Knowledge moved from Nyack to

Irvington, New York Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson, is a suburban Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village of the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, Un ...

. It had been adopted by more than 1,300 educators as of that year. The company received $8 million in funding from investors in 2010. In January 2011, the company received an additional $15 million in funding from investors. The company originally offered every textbook published free using online delivery under the

open content Free content, libre content, libre information, or free information is any kind of creative work, such as a work of art, a book, a software, software program, or any other creative Media (communication), content for which there are very minimal ...

paradigm, but in November 2012, the company announced that it would no longer offer free access to textbooks. In late 2016, Flat World Knowledge was acquired by Alastair Adam and John Eielson and rebranded as FlatWorld.

References

External links

Digital Textbook Sales in U.S. Higher Education — A Five-Year Projection
by Rob Reynolds. ("Factors within the Publishing and Education Markets Affecting the Sales of Digital Textbooks" section and trend charts) Explana. 2010.
"A Cover to Cover Solution:
How Open Textbooks are the Path to Textbook Affordability." Original research report by Nicole Allen of The Student PIRGs.
Creative Commons Talks With Student PIRGs’ Nicole Allen:
"Open Education and Policy." October 14, 2010.
"Get Rid of Print and Go Digital"
by Anya Kamenetz in the ''New York Times.'' August 16, 2010. {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Textbook publishing companies Open content Academic publishing companies Publishing companies of the United States Electronic publishing Creative Commons-licensed works Publishing companies established in 2007 American companies established in 2007 2007 establishments in New York (state) Open educational resources Open access publishers

History

See also

References

External links