codeMantra, LLC – Recommendations for eBook Creation May 3, 2013
codeMantra Whitepaper Enhanced eBook Production in a Dynamic Marketplace
May 3, 2013
Scott Cook Director of IT codeMantra 600 West Germantown Pike Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
Phone: 610-940-1700 [email protected]
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CONTENTS Purpose ...... 1 Section 1. eBook Overview and Market Size ...... 2 Device Ownership ...... 3 Section 2. eBook Formats ...... 6 EPUB ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. Mobi/KF8 ...... 7 Fixed Layout ...... 8 Section 3. Trends ...... 9 Trend 1: The Cloud ...... 9 Trend 2: Meta Formats vs. Rapidly Evolving Standards ...... 9 Trend 3: Quality Matters for Sustainable Market Growth ...... 9 Trend 4: Multimedia vs. Interactivity ...... 10 Trend 5: Non-Traditional Distribution ...... 10 Trend 6: A Global Game ...... 11 Section 4. Authoring Tools ...... 12 Company Profile: Adobe Digital Publishing Suite ...... 12 Company Profile: Apple – iBooks Author ...... 13 Company Profile: Aquafadas ...... 15 Company Profile: Inkling ...... 16 Company Profile: Aerbook Cloud Publishing ...... 17 Summary ...... 18 Section 5. Widgets ...... 19 Section 6. To Buy or To Build? ...... 20 collectionPoint FlexReader™ ...... 21 Section 7. Conclusions ...... 23
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OVERVIEW
Purpose
This document has been written to address the following question: “What are the options, the tools and the possibilities for enhanced eBook production in an ever-changing marketplace? ”
Where as a simple query on Google Search can generate millions of results, it is pretty clear that book content needs all the help it can get, if it is to be discovered by and sold to appropriate audiences using compatible reading devices and platforms. Not surprisingly many publishers struggle to identify the best tools, applications and platforms that will ensure an optimal discoverability model in order to maximize sales. One bold and ever-more popular approach is to develop, promote and distribute content and products directly to consumers. Here too, of course, there are additional challenges and considerations.
Some publishers take the shotgun approach –. A broad distribution of eBooks is funneled to the mass market with the hope that some titles will hit a target and gain some ‘stickiness’. While this approach enables publishers to reach a wide range of readers, the result is content that becomes ‘a jack of all devices, and a master of none.’ In other words the richness of the content and its potential for interactivity or multimedia is reduced to the lowest common denominator – the most constrained device typically that of the Amazon Kindle. This prevents publishers from taking advantage of many of the new features available in EPUB 3.0. It should be noted that by a measure of market share, only a small portion of devices currently in circulation support all, or even most, of the features of the current EPUB 3.0 specification. However, the trend is toward further, more complete support of this spec.
This document will provide insight into current eBook trends and will address the following topics:
eBook overview and market size eBook formats Market trends Authoring tools Widgets (enhanced eBooks) Build or Buy Recommendations for developing a proof-of-concept
Please note that this report is not a complete market analysis, nor is it intended to be one. Rather this whitepaper was designed to inform publishers as they formulate or redefine their digital publishing strategies and programs in the near future.
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Section 1. eBook Overview and Market Size
Digital publishing is reaching a critical mass as more and more publishers are starting to recognize the drastic impact it is having on their overall business model, and more importantly, their bottom line. This impact can be clearly seen in the United States, where eBooks accounted for approximately 35% of the overall market in 2012, and it is estimated to account for 50% by the end of 2014. And this is only the beginning; driven by continuous advancement and improvements in reading devices, an extensive range of electronic books and an aggressive pricing policy for online retailers such as Amazon, eBook revenues continue to expand. In addition, the market continues to be stimulated by the frequent introduction of new tablet devices. Although device companies can’t seem to agree on the perfect device with the right blend of features and functionality that meets the many demands of the market, there is one thing that is clear based on the products currently available – the stiff competition and wide range of device options will keep innovation moving forward and price points moving downwards for years to come – continuing to spur rapid sales growth in this market segment.
eBook Sales
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Device Ownership
One of the driving factors in the popularity of eBooks, is the number of reading devices that are available in the buying population. As can be seen in the chart below, the curve is growing at an significantly steeper rate as time passes. The noticeable bump in May 2011 show the impact the first release of the iPad had on the market.
Currently, 33% of adults own either (and possibly both) a tablet or reading device, up from 18% in 2011. Another significant statistic is that 25% of adults own a tablet (such as the iPad or Kindle Fire) while 19% of adults own a dedicated eReader (such as the Kindle or nook). In 2011, these numbers were both at 10%. This shows the dramatic growth the tablet market has experienced in the past 2 years.
Survey of Non-Device Owners
What is the main reason you do not currently have an e-reader? %of American adults age 16+ who do not own an e-book reader Just don't need one/don't want one 24% Cost/can't afford it 19% Prefer books/print 16% Don't read/no time to read 10% Don't know what an e-reader is 5% Don't want to learn tech/don't know how to use it 4% Have enough other devices/use other devices 3% Plan to get one/waiting for better features 3% Have iPad/tablet 3%
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Lack of time in general 2% I'm too old 2% Vision/health problems <1% Other 3% Don't know/refused 5%
Dec. 2011 results are from a survey of 2,986 people age 16 and older conducted November 16 – December 21, 2011. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and call phones. The margin of error is+/-2 percentage points. N for number of non-owners of e-reading devices=2,290. What is the main reason you do not currently have a tablet computer? %of American adults age 16+ who do not own a tablet computer, as of December 2011 Just don't need one/don't want one 35% Cost/can't afford it 25% Have enough devices/happy with current devices 20% Don't want to learn tech/don't know how to 1use it 7% Don't know what a tablet computer is 2% Plan to get one/waiting for better features 2% I'm too old 2% Lack of time in general 1% Don't read/no time to read <1% Vision/health problems <1% Prefer books/print <1% Prefer to use library <1% Other 2% Don't know/refused 3%
Dec. 2011 results are from a survey of 2,986 people age 16 and older conducted November 16 – December 21, 2011. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and call phones. The margin of error is+/- 2 percentage points. N for number of non-owners of e-reading devices=2,290.
Device Sales
With the increased popularity of tablets, dedicated eReader sales have begun to decline. As of mid-2013, approximately 140 million iPads have been sold worldwide. It is expected that tablets sell at twice the rate of eReaders. As that ratio continues to grow, eReader sales are expected to continue to decline. In 2011 approximately 23.2 million units were shipped. In 2012, that number shrank to 14.9 million, a 36% drop. By 2016, the number of units shipped is expected to drop to 7.1 million units, a decrease of 67% for the peak.
Challenges Facing Publishers
With this constantly shifting landscape, publishers are facing a number of issues, many of which center around the number of various devise and the format that they support. A recent survey asked publishers what their biggest challenges were. The responses were very enlightening:
61% - content format and device compatibility issues as a challenge 35% - distribution channel issues
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29% - creating “quality” digital editions 22% - piracy/DRM
By and far the biggest concern was incompatibility between devices. Even with standards like EPUB 3.0, device manufacturers are still producing devices and apps that follow the letter of the law, but not necessarily the spirit of the law. This is, of course, in order to provide features and functionality that differentiate themselves in the market. However, this causes a ripple effect insofar as publishers, at the very least, must test their publications on the different devices, or in some instances produce specialized versions of publications to take full advantage of a specific device’s functionality.
Device Market Share
Quarter 2 Quarter3 Quarter4 Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Device 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 Desktop/Laptop PC Only 10% 10% 5% 6% 6% Sony EbooK Reader 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% Kindle by Amazon 48% 47% 44% 39% 37% Kindle Fire 0% 0% 9% 16% 18% IPod/iPod Toucn/MP3 Device 3% 3% 2% 2% 2% Smart Phone 0% 0% 3% 3% 3% iPhone 5% 4% 3% 3% 3% Nook/Nook Color by B&N 15% 17% 14% 14% 14% iPad 8% 10% 9% 12% 12% Other Device 7% 7% 8% 4% 4%
Source Bowker Market Research
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Section 2. eBook Formats
eBooks can be published in a variety of file formats. In the United States there is little debate about which format publishers should support since the industry leaders – Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple – all allow customers to read their purchased books on a variety of devices. This multiple-application strategy mitigates the problem of competing file formats, as consumers rarely need to move a book saved in one format to a device that requires a different format. It does however create problems for publishers as they seek to make their eBooks available across all devices and all formats. If a publisher’s goal is to provide the same user experience across a multitude of devices, this increases the overall cost of conversion and minimizes the flexibility or interactivity that can be embedded in the files
Today the most widely used eBook formats are:
EPUB Amazon Mobi/KF8 Apple Fixed Layout
EPUB
Highlights:
The most popular open book format in the world Compressed folder of files Can be viewed on any device with appropriate software Linear reading order Interactive TOC Reflowable content Limited interactivity Frequently used for text heavy applications (e.g. novels) Coded using HTML
EPUB 3.0 supports the following features:
HTML5/CSS2.1/CSS3 Audio (MP3) / Video (VP8/H.264) Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) with interactivity MathML Media Overlays – Read Along & Text to Speech Support for embedded fonts (Web Open Font Format - WOFF) Support for non-Western writing modes and scripts Unicode Interactivity (Javascript) Enhanced metadata Fixed layout
When the EPUB file format was created for e-books, it was designed to be an open standard, meaning that EPUB files could be opened and read on any compatible device (iOS, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Sony). Amazon diverged from this path with the Kindle and its proprietary AZW e-book format, but a wide range of competitors adopted the EPUB standard and did their part to make it a fair, ubiquitous format for all.
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In theory, adopting the EPUB format should be a perfect solution for any publisher. Consider this scenario, a consumer shops the various online e-tailors and chooses to buy an eBook exclusive to Barnes & Noble, purchases a second eBook through Kobo, and then expects to read both of them on his/her iPad or Sony Reader, or any other supporting device they choose. However, differences in today’s various DRM solutions have prevented this from being the case.
Unfortunately, not all eBook devices are created equal – if they were, the choice for the end user would be much simpler, and likely based on price, especially if the user experience was the same on each device when it came to reading or interacting with your eBook.
Differences in reading systems that impact the EPUB format:
Base settings vary between the devices A file that looks good on one platform (e.g. iBooks) might not look as good on another (e.g. Nook) Different levels of user controls Inconsistent displays across reading systems o Publisher must decide whether to implement functionality in favor of portability Reflowability o Complex layouts and page fidelity not supported o No page numbering Media increases complexity and file size
Mobi/KF8
Highlights
Compressed folder of files Can be viewed on any device with appropriate software Linear reading order Interactive TOC (depending on device/reading app) Reflowable content Limited interactivity Frequently used for text heavy applications (e.g. novels) Coded using HTML
Mobi/KF8 supports the following features:
HTML5/CSS3 SVG Fixed Layouts Embedded fonts Drop caps Text popup Panel view
Shortcomings of the Mobi/KF8 Format:
Most devices/apps do not support Kindle Editions with Audio/Video (only Kindle for iOS and the latest Kindle Fire devices) Many older Kindle devices have not been (and may never be) updated to support KF8 Kindle fixed layout also not consistently supported across platforms
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Fixed Layout
The fixed layout format was introduced by Apple to meet publishers’ requirements to maintain the fidelity of the printed page. A fixed layout book, sometimes called an “illustrated book,” has a pixel specific page size that can be used to precisely control the layout of the objects on each page. This format supports embed fonts, variable text sizes, and precise image positioning. Two-page spreads can be created in which a single image spans both pages.
Highlights
58% of publishers are producing fixed layout titles o 73% of these are targeting the iPad Lack of a universal fixed layout format accepted by retailers is a challenge Common multimedia features lack consistent support across devices IDPF chartered EPUB3 Fixed Layout Metadata specification in 2012
Fixed Layout supports the following features:
Can be sold in digital bookstores o PDF files can not Control over layout o Image and graphic position o Text wrapping/line breaks/keeps o Font and text size/indents Text is live o Selectable & searchable – can be copied and bookmarked Images can be full-bleed and backgrounds Images can be full-spread TOC often includes list of page thumbnails o Automatically created in iBooks
Shortcomings of the Fixed Layout Format:
More difficult to produce than reflowable EPUB o Increased cost and complexity o Export capabilities are in early stages of development No special category in iBookstore Different reading systems implement fixed layout differently o Limits distribution opportunities o Might require multiple versions to hit broadest market Do not work well on small screen devices
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Section 3. Trends Trend 1: The Cloud
The definition of, and requirements for, the cloud are rapidly redefining the eBook market since many consumers are now looking for a cost effective and efficient way to store and retrieve their eBooks. Once merely a buzzword, the cloud has become the key to eBook success.
Collaboration – enabling all participants in the composition and production process to work together, seamlessly, from anywhere in the world (i.e. collectionPoint). Discovery – when a book is in the cloud, readers can leverage one its greatest strengths - search. The easier a book can be indexed and cataloged, the more effectively it can be found, evaluated and (ideally) acquired or recommended. Distribution – books are no longer confined to traditional brick and mortar stores or to a limited geography. Providing you own the rights, you can make your books available around the world, accessible instantly by the widest possible audience. Connection – when a book is in the cloud, readers can leverage another of its core strengths – social media. When a book is a living, breathing work it can connect the story and its author with readers around the world, in real-time. A sense of community can be developed where feedback and ideas are shared among those with common interests.
Trend 2: Meta Formats vs. Rapidly Evolving Standards
The race to establish best-of-breed meta-formats (the formats used by a platform to standardize inputs before creating the KF8, EPUB 3.0, etc. outputs) will continue to be fierce. This is a battle that will shape how publishers and service providers differentiate their services / platforms in the near term. These formats will have an impact on the end product’s quality and ability to quickly and easily support major distribution platforms. See Section4: Authoring Tools.
As the eBook reading / rendering formats continue to evolve in capability and complexity, the meta formats that stay as close to standards-based HTML5 and CSS3 as possible will ultimately prove the most effective for meeting the changing needs of the eReading platforms / devices. Look for savvy authors and publishers to seek platform solutions that stay as true to core HTML5 and CSS3 standards as possible. This will provide them with a future-proof foundation to support the escalating battle on the eReading application front.
This is a highly technical outlook but it is one publishers are going to have to become comfortable with in support of their authors, and one independent authors are going to have to be aware of in making informed platform / partner selections.
Ultimately this issue will be resolved as standards are recognized and adhered to – but it is going to take some time. Expect this landscape to be shifting for at least the next 2-3 years. As unfortunate as this is (requiring this level of technical expertise in the author community) it’s going to be unavoidable as standards continue to shake out and retailers seek defensible product differentiation.
Trend 3: Quality Matters for Sustainable Market Growth
Quality, of course, is of paramount importance as this market continues to grow. In the early days, publishers, as part of their shotgun approach, did not pay much attention to the quality of their eBooks. Going forward, the ability for authors and publishers to deliver consistent quality across divergent eBook platforms (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Google Books, Sony, etc.) will be critical for success.
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Consumers will no longer stand for poor quality products that do not work properly within their desired reading application (e.g. scale, flow, image presentation, etc.). Instead of accepting such errors as a matter of course (which early adopters did), mass market readers will quickly be turned off from the eReading experience and perhaps exit the market altogether.
A belief that if a web page can be properly formatted for reading on a mobile device, so can a book, is a concept many people are not willing to acknowledge. Many pundits contend that reading experience and ability for recall where the content is rendered on a digital device or media is inferior to that of the printed page. It is the ambition of most publishers to narrow the gap between the reading experience in digital and that of the printed page. This requires a high standard of Q/A, which is challenging to maintain as the eReading platforms continue to push standards in highly customized ways.
Trend 4: Multimedia vs. Interactivity
All too often when the topic of enhanced eBooks is discussed, the default reaction is to assume the book will include multimedia, more specifically embedded video, audio, photo galleries, maps, timelines, etc. This is quite different than the inclusion of interactivity where assets in the story (characters, locations, objects, etc.) are engaged, in and of themselves, as part of the story.
It's more common to see eBooks (or enhanced eBooks) heading in the multimedia direction. This is where the rapid evolution and adoption of the EPUB 3.0 standard continues, and rich media assets are most easily implemented.
It's far less common, at present, to see true interactivity coming into play. This is likely the result of a number of factors including:
Expense – it remains quite costly and difficult to design engaging interactive elements. Engagement – it remains (and will remain) extremely difficult to intelligently weave interactive elements into stories where these elements are add to the experience versus detracting from it. Platforms – eBook development and eReading platforms with the ability to develop and support embedded interactive media development are rare today. When these capabilities are supported, they are supported in inconsistent ways that make it extremely difficult for authors and publishers to deliver high-quality products.
Within the next 9-12 months, expect to see an increasing number of well thought-out platforms brought to market that will make the creation and embedding of interactive elements easy enough for authors and publishers to seriously consider including these capabilities in their work. These works will initially be focused on presenting the outputs as apps to ensure the most consistent (and quality) reader experience. Ideally these apps will evolve into eBooks as the standards support for interactivity continues to increase. See Section 4: Authoring Tools.
What remains to be seen is whether interactivity and multimedia will be retrofitted into the eBook after the story is written or become a core development component created inline with the story itself, and whether there will be consistent support for presentation of these elements in eReading applications moving forward.
Trend 5: Non-Traditional Distribution
To date the eBook market has been dominated by large players. Whether it’s Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google, Kobo or Sony – in each case we’re talking about multi-national organizations with significant reach and resource availability. For mass market titles (best sellers) expect to see these players continue to gain share.
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For niche readers, those focused on a specific genre, non-traditional distribution points are going to play a far more significant role in a reader’s discovery, acquisition and consumption of eBooks.
As authors and publishers look for new points of distribution that offer more control over the presentation of their works (and more direct connections to their customers, the readers), look for a number of non-traditional sources to become major players in key niches including sports, politics, STM, religion, specialty interests/hobbies and industry specific interests such as financial services, health & well-being, high tech. These markets are opening up to serve and sell smaller more periodic pieces of content, often by subscription or micro-transactions
Trend 6: A Global Game
As eBooks move into the cloud, the ability to reach a global audience becomes presents itself. Savvy independent authors and publishers are going to recognize the opportunity to add a 5% to 10% increases in sales of their titles by opening their distribution to a global audience.
The competition for reader’s attention and money in a global market will increase dramatically as well. Improved quality of content, improved quality and availability of metadata through search and social channels and a holistic embrace of the cloud to support an author-to-reader engagement will all be critical success factors.
The broader the market becomes, the more important it will become for readers to feel connected to their authors and for authors to feel connected to their readers. This connection is the strongest way to establish recurring purchase relationships.
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Section 4. Authoring Tools
As noted earlier, look for savvy authors and publishers to seek platform solutions that stay as true to core HTML5 and CSS3 standards as possible. This will provide them with a future-proof foundation to support the escalating battle on the eReading application front.
The challenge publishers face is to be able to effectively create content for both print and digital formats from a single authoring tool, where the compositor / designer is able to embed the interactivity into the printed page. Alternatively, authors and publishers alike, will need to look at content differently, where the content is authored to be intelligent and device / format agnostic with a core focus on a digital first strategy.
Below is a high-level overview of different authoring platforms that are currently available in the marketplace today.
Company Profile: Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
URL: http://www.adobe.com/products/digital-publishing-suite-family.html
Introduction
Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite, is an off-the-shelf tablet publishing solution for midsize traditional media, business publishers, and membership organizations. You can create highly designed, immersive content and publish it across a variety of marketplaces and devices — including iPad, Kindle Fire, and other Android™ tablets.
Detail
Based on Adobe CS5 and CS6, and particularly InDesign CS5 and CS6, the Digital Publishing Suite will facilitate the design and delivery of publications accompanied by e- commerce technology and analytics reporting. The suite will work in conjunction with InDesign CS5 and CS6, PDF, and HTML5 to let publishers create layouts, build new levels of interactivity in InDesign, distribute digital editions, and optimize editorial and advertising content for a complete digital publishing workflow.
It will give you everything that you need to produce engaging digital documents for tablet devices through the use of a turnkey set of hosted services and viewer technology.
Adobe Digital Publishing Suite is targeted at the professional and enterprise level publisher that is looking to create first class publications such as rich digital magazines and newspapers that are similar to WIRED Reader and The New Yorker. It contains five enterprise level services that are used in combination with InDesign CS6 to provide a complete end-to-end workflow.
So what is new with InDesign 6?
Folio Producer tools – will add interactive overlays to your documents as well as let you preview them all within the context of your publication. These let you create and distribute for the iPad, BlackBerry Playbook, and the Motorola Xoom. You can also include audio, video, slideshows, and hyperlinks. EPUB export enhancements – will let you design more interactive eBooks that now include images that resize for almost any size screen along with better looking text and typography. This gives you the ability to offer readers a much more smooth and pleasant reading experience.
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Articles panel – will be useful to improve the readers experience in textbooks, or other books that contain images, captions, block quotes, or sidebars. You just drag content from your document into the Articles panel, and then organize them to appear in a logical order for the reader when exported. Embedded video and audio in eBooks – and add another dimension to your eBooks. InDesign now supports video and audio tags for newer standards such as HTML5 and EPUB 3. Styles mapped to tags – will allow you to create more sophisticated text. You create digital documents that conform to open standards with improved basic typography without needing to make changes directly to the HTML code. Linked text – will save you time and reduce errors by linking identical text blocks in a document, so that edits you make to the parent story apply to all of them. Dynamic image resizing – allows you to produce documents that look good on any device by letting your images adjust automatically. Drag-and-drop anchored objects – lets you add anchored objects quickly. These will let the text reflow on the page and the anchored object remain in position moving the text it is anchored to.
Distribution Services
The process itself is pretty straightforward. You do the initial document creation in InDesign getting it setup and ready to go. Once that is done, you use the .folio Builder panel to create the Folio. Next you upload it to the Producer Service online. This is where you organize, edit, and publish Folios for testing and distribution. The Viewer Builder Service is used to create a branded, content viewer application for iPad or Android.
Once everything is in place, the Distribution Service is used for manage fulfillment of Folios that have been published and made available for purchase. The Analytics Service is used to view aggregate data for the published folios and to track how your publications are doing. These services are acquired through Adobe for a fee based on the level of service you choose.
Devices Supported
iOS, Android
Company Profile: Apple – iBooks Author
URL: http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/
Introduction
Apple describes iBooks Author as a tool for "educators and smaller publishers to create their own books". Documents created by iBooks Author may only be sold for a fee if they are accepted by and distributed by Apple, but authors also have the option to distribute their work anywhere if the work is being distributed for free.
Many aspects of a document may be edited in WYSIWYG fashion, including text, fonts, colors, foreground and background images, interactive widgets, and charts. Table of contents and glossaries may be managed with some automation.
Detail
Apple introduced iAuthor as a tool to help simplify the creation of interactive eBooks for the iPad. This application has solely been developed for Macs with iOS X. Books created in this
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software that are intended to be distributed for a fee can only be sold off of the Apple iBooks store limiting a publishers distribution through multiple channel partners.
The output of iBooks Author is a proprietary Apple file format similar to the EPUB standard, but with extensions that prevent it from being universally readable or editable as an EPUB document. In addition the format uses undocumented, proprietary XML namespaces and undocumented extensions to CSS.
iBooks Author provides HTML objects that can contain HTML snippets (what Apple calls web widgets), which let you run website-like functionality from an eBook. You can’t just copy the HTML code for a standard web page; you have to create what Apple calls a web widget by using its Dashcode tool, a free download from the Apple Website (it does require that you register as a developer). Features built into the application include the following:
3D Images – Readers can manipulate 3D objects with a touch — so instead of seeing a cross section of a brain, they can see all sections. iBooks Author gives book creators the option to adjust the background, allow readers to rotate the object freely, or constrain its movement to horizontal or vertical rotation. Interactive Images – Pictures tell a bigger story when they’re interactive. Callouts and pan-and-zoom features add even more to the experience. Interactive Galleries – Instead of seeing just one image on the page, readers can swipe through an entire collection of interactive photos and captions with their fingertips. They can navigate the gallery using photo thumbnails or step through images one at a time. Highlighting and Note Taking – Use a finger as a highlighter when reading any textbook in iBooks. Just swipe over any text or math expression and it’s highlighted. Tap a highlighted section and a palette appears. Change colors, switch to underlining, or add a note instantly. Then switch to the Notes view to see all your notes and highlights organized in one place, making it a cinch to search or go back to the highlighted sections of the book. Sharing – When it comes to studying, two minds are better than one. So when you come across a description of magnetostatics you can’t figure out, or a quote that supports your friend’s poli sci paper, share the phrase directly from the page onto your Facebook wall or Twitter feed. You can also share a snippet via text or email. Study Cards – All your notes and highlights automatically appear on study cards. Flip them over and find the definition of a glossary term or the note attached to the highlighted passage. Choose which highlight colors to review, and include chapter vocabulary from the glossary — automatically. To make sure you really know your stuff, you can shuffle your cards to study. Math Expressions – Write elegant math expressions using LaTex or MathML. Scrolling sidebars – Insert relevant asides and tangential topics into scrolling sidebars. So readers can go with you on a short (or long) detour, without ever leaving the page. Pop-Over – Pop-Overs let readers tap an image to reveal a window of additional information, images, or other data to give more context. Audio and Video – Video and audio bring any subject matter to life, anywhere on the page. Readers will experience text and images — instead of just reading and viewing them. Movies can play automatically, and iBooks Author allows any frame of a movie to be the poster frame. Chapter Reviews – Let readers test their knowledge using a variety of question types: multiple choice, choose the correct image, label the image, or a mix of all three. Authors can include six possible answers to each question. Keynote Presentations – Let readers browse Keynote presentations with custom animations — right inside their textbooks. iBooks Author includes intuitive controls for slide navigation and optional self-playing presentations.
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Distribution Services
When your book is just the way you want and you’re ready to publish, iBooks Author walks you through a step-by-step process to help you submit it to the iBookstore for purchase or free download. iBooks Author can even create a sample book for readers to preview, based on your chapter of choice. And to keep your work current, add updates by publishing new versions of your original title. iBooks will automatically notify your readers that there’s a new version of your book ready to download.
You can also export your book in iBooks format to share with others for “Free” providing they have an iPad to view the files.
Devices Supported
iOS only
Company Profile: Aquafadas
URL: http://www.aquafadas.com/
Introduction
Aquafadas was launched in 2004, bringing cost-effective and time-saving software to the digital video community. They develop software for digital publishing that allows publisher to bring their content to tablets and smartphones, and creative software for animations in Flash® and HTML5, video creation and more. Aquafadas is the leader in the digital comics market with AveComics, used by French and international publishers to publish comics to tablets and smartphones.
Detail
Aquafadas offers different points of entry to fit a publishers digital publishing needs. You can start from existing PDFs and automatically convert them into apps, including interactive enrichments such as Guided Reading and re-flowing text. Or you create highly-interactive book apps from scratch. Or start with their automated process and add further enrichments to selected pages. And you can publish your books in EPUB 3 as well, including versions for Amazon and Apple iBooks.
Aquafadas was developed to work with both Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress using a variety of plug-ins and or extensions to extend the toolset within each application. These plug-ins / extensions allow the compositor to enrich the content with interactivity that include the following:
Drag and Drop – Put your finger on an element of the layout and drop it to its dedicated place: “Drag & Drop” is the perfect enrichment for educational and children books. It can be used to include games in all kind of publications. Create educative and interactive exercises, or let readers interact with your publication. Guided Reading – Guided Reading is the most intuitive way to read text that spans across multiple columns and pages. Just by tapping the screen the reader is guided through the content, while Guided Reading always keeps the user's preferred zoom level. Pop-up – Create pop-ups as an overlay or as a full screen. These can include videos and slideshows. Font Management – provides the publisher the ability to extend the fonts on a device. Include HTML Pages – Embed rich HTML or link to a web server to further enhance the user experience.
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Scrollable Layout – Create sophisticated designs by adding a vertical or horizontal scrollable layout in a page. Overlay several layouts. The scrollable layout can include any elements from InDesign, including interactive elements such as slideshows and videos. Customize the scrollable area with fade and scrollbar options and use scroll markers to improve interactivity by triggering custom events in the page. Dynamic Content – Link your slideshow to an RSS feed to display dynamic content. Your slideshows will change automatically to reflect the most current news or image, or to generate reactive advertising. Location Service – Quickly integrate a map in your pages using Google Maps™. Let the user’s location appear in the map and insert customizable pointers to highlight the spots you want. Read Aloud – Link an audio file to a text and offer a read-aloud option in your documents. Manage the overlay effect and highlight animation. The same enrichment will export read-aloud in AVE and EPUB 3.0. Animated Images – Create animated images of a simple swipe of the finger. Create 360° animations to show all facets of a product.
Sophisticated Content Enrichments
Trigger – Challenge your readers: they will have to complete several conditions to trigger an action. Create a maze where you need to follow a specific route in order to win. Grant additional access to content to those users who watch and entire video or reach the end of your text. Gallery – Gallery is made for art books or illustrated books. This premium enrichment lets publishers display a gallery of selected images. For art books, it lets you input the real dimensions of the originals so you can easily compare them and gives the user the impression of facing the wall of a museum. Draw – Create a drawing space in your publication without coding. Insert a model to color and select the color palette. Animated HTML5 – Embed HTML5 animations created with MotionComposer.
Distribution Services
With the Aquafadas Digital Publishing System you can create your content once and publish into all major distribution channels; from apps for iOS and Android devices to EPUB files for Apple iBooks and Amazon. Along with distribution you can use subscription models and manage expiration dates and renewals to push your sales. In addition, you can track and analyze reading behavior and incorporate other analytic tools to help measure the effectiveness of advertising.
Devices Supported
iOS, Android, Kindle
Company Profile: Inkling
URL: https://www.inkling.com/habitat/
Introduction
The Inkling Habitat online publishing platform is aimed squarely at the textbook market. It provides publishers with the tools to produce and distribute rich interactive textbooks, and similar types of consumer content such as how-to manuals and travel guides.
The difference in approach is hinted at in its statement that ‘content is treated like software’. At the heart of Inkling is its own XML-based markup system which it calls S9ML.
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XML markup is used to ‘catalogue’ every element of the book, describing its structure in a way that computer programs can understand. Once this is done, the digital textbook can be run through a program and served up in different versions and formats as well as sold as chapters or repackaged components.
Detail
Inkling claims that Habitat is the “first integrated publishing environment” built for professional publishers. It allows publishers to push updates to every target platform once, while automatically customizing layouts for each device. Everything lives in the cloud, so that teams of editors, authors, and production partners can collaborate on textbook (or digital publishing) projects from around the world. Using the collaborative cloud, team members can see the same thing as their counterparts in India, staying in sync throughout the process. In addition it also includes instant error reporting and infinite revision management, so that you can push updates to your paid customers at any time ensuring they always have the most up- to-date content at all times.
As of early 2013 Inkling has opened up its Habitat platform to any and all comers. Publishers or their preferred 3rd party service providers can readily attain access to the platform and take control of the production their titles. codeMantra is more than prepared to offer Inkling composition services for multiple device output
Distribution Services
Inkling textbooks are output as apps (iPad and iPhone only at this stage) and HTML for the web (only supports Chrome and Safari browsers currently). This means they won’t be available through the major eBook sellers like Amazon, Kobo or Nook.
Devices Supported
iOS, Safari and Chrome browsers
Company Profile: Aerbook Cloud Publishing
URL: Aerbook.com
Introduction
Founded in 2011, Aerbook is designed to support authors and publishers in their creation of visual books and ebooks and apps - without writing code. The Aerbook Maker platform works where layout truly matters to the quality of the story and the story is equal parts visual content and text.
Detail
At its core, the Aerbook Maker platform has been architected and designed as a web-based publishing platform, cloud-driven, socially networked - one where print is an important output but not a fundamental pillar on which the content is created.
Equally important to the technology is the company's core tenant that Aerbook Maker be a rational basis for a sustainable, cross-platform P&L for authors and publishers.
The platform establishes all works in a lightweight, proprietary XML format. This is the foundation from which platform-specific assets are built to accommodate multiple points of distribution - as well as standard EPUB, print-ready PDF (coming soon) and HTML. Any title developed in Aerbook can also be exported as a true native app project for easy compilation using popular mobile development platforms.
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Interactive elements can be custom designed by authors and publishers or selected from a rapidly expanding list of "stock" elements offered within the platform.
Authors and publishers can enable the sharing of any component of the work on the web from within the Maker platform. By establishing a phrase, page, section or chapter as "discoverable" a link is generated which enables a reader to access the particular section of the work. This is a not copy of the complete work. Rather, this is a specific page, indexable by Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, etc. to aid in potential reader's discovery and evaluation of the work itself.
Distribution Services
Books created in Aerbook can be distributed to Amazon, Apple's iBooks & iOS App Store, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Google Play Books, Kobo and Sony.
Devices Supported
iOS, Kindle, Nook, Android
Summary
Similar to Aerbooks above there are a many number of websites that allow you to create, publisher, and distribute content via web based authoring tools. Many of these have been developed for ease of use where no backend programming is required, simply drag and drop your content, add interactivity, and publish your eBook for a fee. Most of these, however, sites are geared to delivering content to the iPad and may limit your ability to distribute to other devices.
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Section 5. Widgets
Widgets provide a publisher the ability extend the functionality within the body of an eBook allowing them to be more interactive for the user. Widgets, as noted above, in some Authoring tools, come incorporated into the standard framework for many of the applications. Third Party Widgets provide the ability to offer even more features to the end user. For example:
Tableau Software – Provides the ability to interact with charts and graphs and to update the data in real-time. Bookry – They have 23 iAuthor widgets for you to choose from that include many specifically created for children’s books. Tumult Hype – Using Tumult Hype, you can create HTML5 web content. Interactive content and animations made with Tumult Hype work on desktops, smartphones and iPads. No coding required. Dashcode – Provides the publisher the ability to create custom widgets using HTML5, javascript, and CSS. jQWidgets – Here you can find sample widgets that can enhance the user experience with a browser based environment. They support all major desktop and mobile web browsers - Internet Explorer 7.0+, Firefox 2.0+, Safari 3.0+, Opera 9.0+, Google Chrome, IE Mobile, Android, Opera Mobile, Mobile Safari (IPhone, IPad).
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Section 6. To Buy or To Build?
The unfortunate reality is that the existing tools in the marketplace for creating and or converting your eBooks provide limits on the type of functionality you can offer your readers. Many of these also impose limits on the device in which the content can be displayed and or sold, which reduces your distribution capabilities as well.
As you define your digital publishing strategy and consider the features that are important to you and your readers, you may find that, in the long run, it is be better to develop your own browser based HTML5 eBook reader/App. This way you can ensure it maintains all of the features you are looking for across multiple devices. As a result you, the publisher, assert much better control over the user experience relative to your content – as you would with print. Taking this approach however does require the development of a full specification and could be time consuming and costly.
As a starting point there are some existing white label eBook readers in the market that can be customized to meet your specific needs. Some of these include:
Bluefire Reader – http://www.bluefirereader.com/white-label-apps.html Aldiko – http://www.aldiko.com/partners.html DigiBook – http://www.digibooks4all.com/mobile-readers/dreader-app Copia – http://www.thecopia.com/home/index.html
To -Build or Customize Your Own Reader
PROS CONS
Designed to meet your specific needs Initial development costs likely more than 10 x cost to license
No royalty payments to 3rd party developer Maintenance and up-grade requirements will be on- going investment/expense
Unconditional access to customer analytics and Potential for broader reference base for analytics, content usage results where reader app reports statistics in context of catalog of all publishers’ titles
Ability to customize user experience to meet audience Licensed reader app may provide more refined needs functionality, having served a broader community of users
No obsolescence (as long as it is maintained) Software development is not part of the company’s core competencies
Investment in updates and enhancements 100% Forward compatibility of customizations can be controlled challenging; requires dedicated software product development team
A uniquely developed solution can provide a If competition is one of the traditional channel partner competitive advantage applications (Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, B&N Nook) it will prove challenging to stay ahead of them for any significant period of time
Can be designed to support legacy systems Economies of scale may not be there.
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collectionPoint FlexReader™
codeMantra offers its own proprietary reader app with some unique and compelling features. This is a reflowable text reader, that can be configured to handle multi-column display and manage contextual display of marginalia, footnotes and boxed content.
Reflowable Text with contextually anchored footnotes; text-boxes. Reader offers standard features such as highlighting, notes capture, bookmarking
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Categorized search capabilities across multiple sections, sub-sections, chapters or topics displayed in summary form for quick focus and retrieval.
For more details about cP FlexReader contact your codeMantra Sales person or Client Services Manager. Or email [email protected]
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Section 7. Conclusions
Technology and market trends are ever-changing dynamics that require a different production discipline for digital publishing. Gone are the safe assumptions that make print a much more manageable production target. Unfortunately, the financial impact of digital publishing has become far too important for publishers to treat it as an aftermarket. In many instances digital is driving publishing decisions and there are thousands, if not 100s of thousands, of instances of digital first publications.
For the past 5-10 years publishers have been content to convert a digital replica of their print content, however, inadequate that might have been. But in order to thrive (if not survive) publishers must now develop a digital strategy for their lines of publications. Content needs to be carefully assessed as to its suitability for digital output, as well as the potential enhancements and new markets that can be delivered by a distinctly digital version of a book, magazine article, journal contribution, or professional paper. While the options generated by devices, formats and reading systems often produce a kaleidoscope-like array of paths and possibilities, it is essential that publishers examine their options and determine the one that will maximize their ROI for the here and now. Any ambition for a path that will lead to an uninterrupted revenue stream – the equivalency of backlist print title that continues to sell without alteration – is foolhardy. Content in the digital marketplace will be subject to constant revision and revitalization as new means of expression and display present themselves. The good news is the cost of re-tooling content for a new market opportunity is far more economic than the cost of printing and shipping print products to meet demand.
It is hoped that this paper provided the background information needed and laid out the current options so that publishers are able to make informed decisions about their content and its digital life cycle and strategies to maximize profit while keeping production costs low. Stay tuned for an update.
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