© petrol – Fotolia.com
Do you own any eBooks which have ‘extras’? By extras I mean similar to a DVD when they have the bonus features, or maybe video or animation.
Like everything else these days, eBooks are evolving as I speak and I have already had an enquiry this year about placing video within an eBook. I found out that iBooks on Apple iTunes allows for this, so it’s something I will be looking to learn inside out over the next few weeks so I can create the video eBook for my client.
So far I haven’t found outlets such as Amazon or Smashwords accepting eBooks with ‘extras’, but I am sure it won’t be long before they do.
New Skills
One of my goals this year is to learn how to format eBooks using html/css. I know the basics, but haven’t actually attempted to format using html before – and I am quite looking forward to it. But it’s also worrying, how fast are eBooks going to evolve, will I be able to keep up?
I could go into the finer details about how eBooks could evolve but I found a really great article The Evolution of eBooks which covers everything I want to say about the subject and more.
If you’re an author/writer and looking to publish an eBook, what sort of ‘extras’ would you consider including? I’d be really interested to know.
Hi Jo, the first ebook I formatted, I coded with basic HTML – mainly because I spent so long gnashing my teeth at mobipocket at the time. I wouldn’t want to go back there!
Now with the added extras you can get – and it’s only a matter of time on Amazon with the Kindle Fire being a super reader – it’s not something that floats my boat. Call me old fashioned! I want a book to be a book, not video or animation.
I’m with you, I would want a book to be a book, I don’t think I’d personally buy eBooks with extras, but I am sure there are people out there that will. I really want to learn the coding though, and then at least I can cover all bases. 🙂
Great post! I love that you’re exploring the idea of adding video to ebooks. I’ve been downloading books to my iPad, and reading using the Kindle app. A number of newer NON-fiction books have had video links embedded into the content.
One particular book, “The Online Treasure Map for Motivational Speakers: 21 Industry Insider Tips to get you Booked as a Speaker Faster” (too long a title in my opinion) had a video explaining the content at the end of every chapter. It was a good example of this new trend. I found the video helpful to understand the technical jargon.
I’ve experienced the value of video for non-fiction books. I don’t know about fiction…
Thanks Lori, I use my iPhone, I have no idea how video’s would work on there – I might have to download one just to check it out. I guess for non-fiction books it could be a good idea, I don’t know how it would work with fiction though.
Hey, thanks so much for linking my blog post about the evolution of ebooks–seeing that made my day :). As for my two cents, I think enhancements only work for certain types of books, and I think right now they tend to work better for non-fiction. How-to type books especially. The next book I’m writing is going to be an ebook on how to make ebooks, and I plan on incorporating videos that show how to do certain tasks. I’m more of a visual/kinetic learner, and personally it helps me to watch videos rather than just reading steps.
Happy to link to your post Sabrina, it was really good and far more indepth than I could have gone if I’d tried to write it myself. Let me know when you’ve finished your eBook, I’d be interested to read it. 🙂
Well I prefer my ebook without animation, thank you very much.