Book Apps and eBooks
A recent blog post on authors and the gaming space swiped at Vook in its headline — which got our attention, mostly because we’ve been thinking about the same thing. We’d like to think the post’s author isn’t aware of the extent of what we’re building, but in the fast paced world of digital publishing, those who take time to get defensive are dead. What engages us — and probably the post’s author — is the increasingly pressing question of what separates a Book App from an Ebook. That’s going to be a key question for content publishers in the next few months and years. We think an early break down looks something like this:
APPS:
- Rich images with easy to use design and flair: ie, Post Pix
- Simple video instructional: ie, our Pilates titles
- Rich design and lots and lots of graphics/videos: ie, JFK
- Rich design and interactive gaming: ie, Angry Birds, Rage HD
- Rich design and artsy gaming: ie, Osmosis
KEY TO WIN: unique, immersive experience, goes from one blast of pop up colorful media to another blast of pop up colorful media. Games with a book-like feel will be a winner here; not books with a game-like feel.
EBOOKS
- More text based
- Video enhancements and text work closely together
- A consumption experience — minimal interaction
- Page turning and playing videos and expanding images
- Note taking
- Sharing favorite quotes
- Simple but clean book-like design is easy to use and read
KEY TO WIN: Quality of content, well written text, name brand author. More of a book world experience than an app world experience.
There’s going to be other differentiators — but if you ask us, the rush to get your book into an app will begin to migrate into a rush to get your book into a book reading app (ie, iBookstore, Kindle, BN, etc) for more text based titles pretty quickly. Our ability to add enhancements puts us in a sweet spot that bridges apps and ebooks — but we’re building comprehensive solutions for both worlds that will probably begin to look more different from each other as they become more suited to their format.
Related posts:
Recent Comments