FAQ

Click or tap on any of the questions to see our answers. If you don't see a question you want answered, contact us at support@modularpress.org.

What is special about Modular Press?

Good question. In the coming year, lots. Right now not as much as we have the potential for. But let’s talk about now. Unlike other textbook publishers, everyone involved with Modular Press is an educator and not someone sitting behind a desk. We are talking about people who are in the classroom working with students. The kind of people who understand how theory actually turns out in the real world. Thank of it this way: we are just like you, trying to find ways to increase learning opportunities on a daily basis.

Why should I trust you?

Another good question. First look around the site and spend some time on the About Us page to see who we are. Also read our terms of service, which, by the way, are written in understandable language. No lawyers needed. We use commonly accepted services for payment, renumeration, and other services. Our motto is stupidly simple systems with obnoxiously obvious transparency. Go ahead and ask us a question. If we don’t answer it to your liking and you want to go somewhere else, we understand.

What are the benefits of using Modular Press?

Wow, you are filled with good questions but this is really an important one. We assume you want to know the benefits for you as a teacher. If you want to find out about the benefits for student please see the next question. So where were we? The first benefit for teachers is that you know your students and can make a pretty good about what they need. So you’ve creates materials for a specific need in the classroom and then we help you get it to your students. Most classroom practitioners don’t have time to write a compete textbook but most of us have developed materials that might form a complete unit. So maybe you upload a unit, and find some other units made by other teachers, put them together in an order you like, and we do the rest. We put it all together in a polished package that is made available to your students. The texts are designed for mobile devices and computers, which means that if your students will be reading the texts on their phones, they won't be looking at tiny PDF files that are impossible to read.

How is Modular Press different from traditional publishers?

This is where we truly are different from other publishers. Listen carefully or should we say, read carefully: the author owns the copyright and can choose what kind of copyright they want. We are digital publishers and a digital marketplace, and believe that the people who create the materials own the materials, not the people or organization that distributes the producs. Want to sell your textbook or content somewhere else as well? Please do so. In fact, we encourage you to get as much exposure as you can.

Who are you people?

We ask ourselves this very same question and never seem to come up with a really good answer. Basically, we are teachers who want to make a difference by creating a system of texts that adapt to students, not the other way around. Some of us have PhDs. Others have Masters. One of us has a toy poodle. And a Masters.

Do you have an editing team?

We do and they really care about teaching since they are teachers. The editor assigned to you will work hard to make sure that your unit or book meets the needs of students and can be formatted properly.

What guarantees do I have that you are for real?

Uh oh, it’s time to watch “The Matrix” again. Let’s see, we have a website and we even provide you with a phone number. Email us or call us and we will happily try to prove that we actually exist.

How do I upload my content?

Once you have signed up and agreed to the TOS which includes a statement that all the materials are yours and obey all copyright laws, then it’s just a matter of clicking a button, navigating to your file and selecting it. Click one more button and the magic of the internet does its thing.

Do I have to use special formatting or specific software to upload my work?

Our system can accept Word and Google documents, as well as ePub, Markdown, and HTML. We think the easiest way for people who are not nerds (we are all nerds here at Modular Press) is to make a Word document and use the built in styles for formatting. This makes the uploading much easier for you and for us.

How do I get paid?

We use a payment system that can directly deposit the money into a bank account you designate. If you are using a Swiss bank or some tax haven off-shore account, maybe you don’t really need to be asking this question, since you’re probably sipping a Margarita on some exotic beach while the rest of us are toiling away.

How much do I get?

Modular Press pays a 50% to 70% royalty per unit or text, depending on how much editing and formatting is required. After 2 years, everyone gets 70%. We take our share of the money to cover business expenses and make sure our children get fed and can buy the latest iPhone.

How do students access the content?

Everything we publish is online, although you can make your texts available offline. First students create an account with us and then they pay online for the the semester or yearly subscription. After this, the payment gets processed and the student is notified that they have been granted access to the text. All they have to do now is find their text and they can begin reading, highlighting, annotating, and citing. Also, our platform allows teachers to create reading groups so students can share ideas. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more.

Can anyone just upload their materials and get them downloaded?

This sounds like a trick question but we will answer it anyway even though the answer depends on how far we are into our plan. Right now, anyone can upload material and our editorial team will review the material. We might make some suggestions, we might outright accept it if it’s really good, or we might say no thank you if it it’s not a good fit for our project. If we accept your material, then it is available for download. Guess the short answer is yes and no.

What about ISBN?

If you submit a complete text and it’s approved, we take care of issuing the ISBN.

Paper textbooks have places for students to write things down. What are they supposed to do with a text trapped on their device?

The reading platform has highlighting and annotation features. Readers can highlight important sections (although research indicates that highlighting does not result in increased understanding or recall. This is where we go old school. Maybe you are too young to remember or maybe you didn’t go through public schools, but when were we kids long ago, we weren’t allowed to write in the textbooks the schools gave us. We wrote the answers on paper and then handed that in. Fast forward to now. Instead of having each student show you their work during class, they can give you their work at the end of class and you can take it home and check it. Whoops, did we just give you more work?

How do students take notes?

Wow, your students take notes? You are really lucky. Seriously though, what appears to be a negative point actually turns into a positive. Most of the students we know, do not have good note taking skills and pretty much write things down anywhere in their book. Maybe this is good since the note is close to the source material, but it is difficult for students to easily retrieve the information.

Most of us like to teach our students how to use the Cornell Note Taking system, and now you have an excuse to do it to. Honestly, by making your students learn to take notes, whether on their phones or on paper, you’re teaching them a valuable skill. And yes, all of here, since we are teachers, understand the challenge.

What’s with the snarky tone?

Snarky? That wasn’t our intent. Most FAQ are dry and somewhat too serious. Also, they’re not fun to read. Guess our FAQs aren't that fun to read either. Sorry about that. We'll try harder in the future.

Malcolm Gladwell