Several years ago, my partners and I produced an online multimedia reading experience called a Quillr®. It combined text with sound and visual effects, including videos, music, sound effects and photographs.
At the time, many scoffed at and berated us for ruining ‘reading’.
We thought it was the coolest sensory experience reading had ever offered.
We still do.
And now, Booktrack is catching on by adding music to ebooks.
Welcome to the party, Booktrack.
Recently, I was fortunate enough to listen to an excellent free webinar, offered by Enhanced E-Book University, on enhanced e-books.
Three interesting guests:
The trio offered excellent information and advice.
UnnaturalStates: John & Harry Battling
It was so cool to learn that others are embracing the multimedia enhanced book platform. Though different from our UnnaturalStates Quillr® concept, they were all hip to offering stories and information in a whole new way.
Text alone storytelling and reading is just so five minutes ago!
Read more and see some video of the webinar here.
UnnaturalStates
It’s from Groovy Writer who’s posting on a mobileread forum.
Wow, impressive. Great job, Nicola. Interesting premise, too. You put a lot of work into the multimedia site. Bet it kept you busy through the long BC winter!
Thanks, Groovy Writer!
With the crop of new e-readers available and the ever-growing list of ebooks available, there is a lot of rumbling and grumbling about the end of publishing as we know it.
UnnaturalStates: John & Harry Battling
As a keen believer in electronic publishing, especially in telling stories in a multimedia platform like our UnnaturalStates, I’m all for evolution in the publishing business.
Church Choir Mysteries: The Unsuitable Suitor
I’m also up for good old-fashioned printed books, with their lovely heft and smell.
And, most shockingly, I don’t see these two positions as being diametrically opposed.
Now, Michael Hyatt offers some excellent predictions on the end of publishing as we know it, as well as offering a video introducing an amazing new multimedia reading device by Time Inc. and Wonderfactory called the SI Tablet.
Check it out. Reading is evolving, whether you like it or not.
Oh, and of course, publishing isn’t ending anytime soon.
I recently gave a speech (The Mysterious Evolution of Publishing) to the Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island, focusing on what I’ve learned about print and digital publishing. The attendees were very enthusiastic and encouraged me to post a blog.
As a multi-published mystery author and self-published ebook author, I’ve determined the following about print versus digital publishing:
Print Publishing:
• Hard to achieve
• Handled by third party publisher
• Respected product
• Universal & world-wide appeal
• Costly to produce; thousands of dollars for smallish print runs
• Book sale price relatively high
• Receive Editorial assistance
• Design & marketing support
• Established distribution / sales avenues
• Author receives 5-15% royalties
• Author expected to self promote; own expense
• Relatively short-lived shelf live; new books always coming
• No changes/corrections once printed; must await new print run
Digital Publishing:
• E-books now wildly available
• May be read on computer or mobile screen
• Can be multimedia like our QUILLR® storytelling platform
• Can be produced by third party publisher, third party + self publisher or author alone
• Gaining respect & audience
• Popular in overseas, especially Asia (multi-million cellphone downloads yearly!)
• Interest growing in Europe & North America
• Editorial assistance, design & marketing support possible
• Limited distribution avenues, though growing (iTunes, shortcovers, booksonboard, diesel, amazon, etc.)
• Author royalties range between 30 and 70%
• iPhone, netbooks and younger generation suit reading online, on mobile and on screen
• Excellent second source of sales for published books
• Ideal for self-publishing; author can create, design, set up accounts, upload and start selling worldwide
• Suitable for non-traditional style, non-traditional format, non-traditional content
• Terrific test marketing opportunity
• Long life as digital bookstores seemingly have endless space
• And it’s cool…absolutely no reason not to give it a shot!
A few weeks ago, I high-fived the digi-novel concept, which tells stories by combining book, movie and website.
Well, our multimedia storytelling plot continues to thicken with the new Vook, a video-enhanced read, which the NY Times nicknamed a hybrid book. Publishers Simon & Schuster are teaming up with the creators of Vook.com to produce four vooks (two fiction and two non-fiction); all will be available online and as an Apple iPhone application.
We at Team Quillr® applaud Vook and Simon & Schuster for diving into multimedia storytelling. Since it’s similar to something we tackled over a year ago with our mashup of text, video, music, sound effects and photographs (see unnaturalstates.com), we know how much thought, work, money and heart goes into creating something like this.
It amazes me that their detractors (yeah, they exist) just don’t get it. Like some didn’t get our Quillr® concept.
It’s dead simple, folks.
It’s NOT a book.
It’s something different: a new multimedia storytelling platform that enhances one’s reading experience.
Sure, the video production values could be stronger, sure the interface could be smoother, sure yadda sure yadda sure yadda.
That’s not the freakin’ point. That techie stuff will evolve and improve, just like any new concept.
The freakin’ point is that some people have a different vision of storytelling and they’re willing to put themselves in the line of fire to bring it to life.
So…if you’re not interested in experiencing a Quillr® or a Vook, step aside. There’s a whole new generation that’s going to devour this innovative wave of storytelling and it’s just the beginning.
Once again, welcome Vook. Bring it on!
A reviewer at Coffee Time Romance recently gave our Quillr a three cup (good read) review. Calling our multimedia platform an interesting idea, she also said that the music is wonderfully done, and really builds on the suspense and emotion of the characters and that the plot is very well done with the many twists and turns it takes to hold the reader captive to the story.
It’s great that she enjoyed the story and considers our experiment in multimedia publishing to be interesting, but the best news is that she loved and commented on the music. It’s about time! Our composer, Glynne Turner, created some amazing original songs, including Sinners Who Weep and Unnatural State. The songs, plus her carefully crafted music and sound effect atmospheres, add hugely to the overall UnnaturalStates.com experience.
Click here to watch our music video, starrring John the Apostle, singing Unnatural State: Unnatural State video
You may read the entire Coffee Time Romance review here coffee time romance review unnaturalstates.
We’re not alone in thinking “books” can be more, much more, in this digital age.
Our QUILLR® concept merges text, video, music, photos and sound effects, letting the reader experience the story.
Now Anthony Zuiker, the creator of the CSI TV franchise, is getting in on the multimedia storytelling action by combining book, movie and website in a “digi-novel” format, described here
Digi-movie concept.
As Zuiker says, The future of business in terms of entertainment will have to be the convergence of different mediums. So we did that – publishing, movies and a website.
I’m looking forward to following his brave new effort.
In the meantime, why not give our own multimedia event a shot?
UnnaturalStates.com
John & Harry Battling
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