Is There an Enhanced eBook in Your Future?

enhanced ebook A lot of people are talking about eBooks these days. And while a lot of the conversation seems to hover around a handful of examples, it’s great to hear that people are discussing eBook functionality and how it can and should vary.

Regular eBook

A regular eBook is simply a book you publish in electronic format, with no special bells or whistles. Many people tend to push these eBooks out in PDF format, but professionals like us know that a PDF is not a good format for reading long-form content. If you want your content to be read anywhere but the desktop web – say on a Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, Android phone or tablet – then you are going to want to convert your eBook into .mobi format (for the Kindle) and .epub (for everywhere else). I know, I know. The .mobi format is older than sin itself. Kindle has a proprietary format you can use, but ONLY if you plan on selling your book commercially through the Kindle store. For all other forms of eBooks, .mobi is the way to go, even though this document format was originally created to support the Palm Pilot back in the day.

Enhanced eBook

An enhanced eBook typically includes all or some of the following elements:

Hidden searchable text
Collapsible table of contents
Rich media features including audio, video, and interactivity
Internal linking – footnotes/annotations/cross references/indexes
External linking – geolocation/directions/associated websites/social media sites

The hallmark of an enhanced eBook is that the book itself must take advantage of enhanced functionality built into the epub3 standard.

Interactive eBook

Meanwhile, an interactive eBook goes beyond mere enhancement to allow you to “enable users to interact with the storyline in sight, sound, and touch. I like to think of interactive eBooks as an evolution of the printed book with added interactivity in order to create an experience beyond the printed format. Examples of interactive eBooks include pop-up book apps for kids, interactive travel guides that utilize the device GPS capabilities, cookbooks with built-in timers and video recipes, or any traditional book that now uses the tablet to enhance the experience with interactivity.” (Source: UX Magazine | Avi Itzkovitch, April 2012).

The difference between an enhanced eBook and an interactive one can seem nuanced until you think it through in terms of the user experience. Take GPS capabilities. Both eBooks can leverage GPS. An enhanced eBook would allow you to jump out of a travel guide and see where you are. An interactive eBook would change the content on the page based on where GPS says you are – creating a different experience for you on the page. In other words, an interactive eBook is an example of dynamic publishing in action. Which means that interactive eBooks will be coming to business settings sometime in the very near future.

Oh, yes. In case, you are wondering. We do eBooks for our clients in all shapes and sizes. Regular. Enhanced. Interactive. If you have an eBook need don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance in developing the content, converting it on the backend, and enhancing your content with the appropriate interactivity.

Discuss
Blog · eBook · June 19, 2012

http://www.thecontentwrangler.com Scott Abel

Great topic, Val. Ann Rockley explores the topic of dynamic publishing and tries to define the topic based on feedback from many industry professionals. Her work yielded this definition:

““Dynamic publishing automatically assembles and delivers (publishes) content based on specific customer requirements.””

http://www.thedynamicpublisher.com/2012/06/14/in-search-of-a-simple-definition-for-dynamic-publishing/

Dynamic publishing is still an often misunderstood term. It’ll be interesting to see how eBooks help us move away from providing static content and toward dynamically delivering content on demand.

For those interested in additional information on eBooks, consider signing up for information about Rockley’s latest work, ‘eBooks 101: Reaching Customers Anywhere, Anytime on Any Device” (out soon) http://www.ebooks101book.com
http://www.thecontentwrangler.com/ Scott Abel

Good to see you addressing eBooks. But, your definition of the difference between enhanced eBooks and interactive eBooks is confusing. First, enhanced eBooks are interactive. But, more importantly, the next step up from enhanced eBooks is an app. Apps rely on the operating system of the device, communicate through it, to take advantage of the functions of the device. For instance, GPS is hardware on a device, not something that can be activated without tapping into the software that commands it. In order to have a location-aware eBook, you’d need to have the eBook communicate with — and process information from — the device, something that requires an app.

Not bitching, but seeking to ensure your readers understand the differences. There’s really something to the phrase, “there’s an app for that.”
- http://www.contentrules.com Val Swisher
  
  Scott – Thanks for your reply. Yes, you are correct – in order to take advantage of interactive capabilities of a device, you need to take into consideration the operating system (and the hardware) of the target device. This type of eBook enters the world of application development, given that you have to create your eBook specifically for the O/S of the device.
  
  Some sites (for example, bestinteractiveebooks.com) continue to call this type of content an interactive eBook and some experts (for example, Ann Rockley in her upcoming book “eBooks 101″) prefer to call this content an application. Whatever you call it, it is the next step in moving the user experience along the dynamic path. Thanks again for your comments!
Riley

I apologize in advance for my scepticism if not cynicism, but bu one can but hope that there’ll be a master OFF switch for all of these notionally “enhanced” features.

First and foremost, let there be no doubt that in a world in which the words “message”, “communication”, and even “interactive” have become euphemisms for advertising, “interactive” features in books are first, foremost, and primarily an attempt by advertisers to slime their way into the one part of the world that has so far remained blissfully free of their shrieking.If this lifetime recreational reader wants video, sound, and so on, he’ll turn on a television or go to the Internet in pursuit of them; or at least those parts of them that haven’t already been dumbed down so as to provide an optimal delivery framework for advertising.But when I turn to a book I’m in looking in no small part for relief from devices, blinking lights, and commercial messaging masquerading as “enhancements”…
- http://www.contentrules.com Val Swisher
  
  Hi Riley – Thanks for your comment. I understand your frustration with advertising being interlaced into much of our digital content these days. Companies are always trying to find a way to engage us. Personally, when I read a novel on my Kindle, I don’t mind the fact that when I open my Kindle, I see an ad. I could pay to have that “feature” go away. But, I actually don’t look at the ad. I simply turn on the device and read the book. Same is true for when I read Nancy Duarte’s new eBook “Resonate, ” based on her book of the same title. I don’t recall seeing any ads in it, but it is a wonderful “book” to experience.

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