tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post74712772999558375..comments2024-01-20T00:59:08.689+00:00Comments on Brave New World: Are Enhanced eBooks a Digital Grail?Martyn Danielshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134633193540004531noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post-14374294099757286442015-05-21T06:05:54.316+00:002015-05-21T06:05:54.316+00:00it's interesting that we assume that the digit...it's interesting that we assume that the digital rendition is the logical one which to extend. The big question is whether there is money money in doing that and and also whether it adds real perceived value in the eyes of the consumer?<br />It is clear that eBooks are licenced copies and therefore not collectibles so why try to make them collectibles. Maybe they should be seen and priced as the new paperback or cheap rendition.<br />If one follows this logic then you could look to making the hardback the collector rendition. After all today the only difference between the paperback and hardback is the packaging. By adding supplemental material within the hardback we could see the value increase and the price hold its own and differentiation between the paperback and hardback become clear.<br />We must remember that just because the digital rendition can accommodate more material isn't sufficient reason alone to include it.Martyn Danielshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02134633193540004531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35428618.post-91180768853572539842015-05-14T15:50:58.053+00:002015-05-14T15:50:58.053+00:00The problem is that "enhanced" has come ...The problem is that "enhanced" has come to mean mixed media, which is adding audio and video to ebooks. That's why publishers are becoming skeptical about. A bad idea has become a failed idea.<br /><br />I've long said that mixed media was a road to nowhere. Contracting for Microsoft in the late 1980s, I saw that come to nothing with CD media. Nothing has changed. Mixed media is still expensive and something readers don't find appealing.<br /><br />What would appeal is an enhanced ebook that builds on the older print model. Digital could include more additional information that readers could use or not use. Writers often have to prune some of their research. What they've discovered could be part of the enhancement, something readers could access or ignore.<br /><br />Fiction would also benefit. Imagine a murder mystery that you read twice. The first time you read it without the authors notes turned on, attempting to solve the mystery yourself. The second time you read it with the notes on and through them the author explains the clues he placed in his tale. It'd the equivalent of DVDs that let you watch a second time and listen to the director and writers explain the background. <br /><br />In short, enhancement hasn't been tried and found wanting. It's merely been badly implemented without taking into account that, when people read a book they don't want to have radically different media thrust at time.<br /><br />For a parallel, imagine a movie that, as certain points in the story, forced are you to stop watching and read an accompanying book passage. You'd be ticked off wouldn't you? Adding videos to books does much the same thing. People simply don't like certain kinds of mixed media.<br /><br />That's perhaps with the exception of having an online author interview to watch before reading and another to watch after. Being able to see the author as a person often makes it more enjoyable.Inklinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05272203500649628022noreply@blogger.com