Digitizing Experience: The Value of Apps and E-Books in Publishing

Digitizing Experience:
The Value of Apps and E-Books in Publishing

By: Duany Diaz

Friday, 12 October, 12

Contents
✴ 1: What are Apps and E-Books?
✴ 2: Four Neat Apps
✴ 3: Qualities of a Good App
✴ 4: The Greater Context
✴ 5: Other Noteworthy Apps and Links to Check Out


What are
Apps and
E-books


App:
App is an abbreviation for application. An app is a piece of software. It can run
on the Internet, on your computer, or on your phone or other electronic device.

E-book:
E-book is an abbreviation for Electronic-book. It is the electronic counterpart of
a printed book, which can be viewed on a desktop computer, laptop,
smartphone or e-book reader.


Formats
Where to Access
Apps:

Devices Used to Access
Apps / E-books:


Formats
Where to Access
Apps:
- Apple
- Amazon
- Android
- Blackberry
- Google Apps / E-books:


Formats
Where to Access
Apps:
- Apple
- Amazon
- Android
- Blackberry
- Google Apps / E-books:
- iPhone / iTouch
- iPad
- Kindle
- Android
- Playbook
- Sony


But
Wait...When
Did This All
Happen
Again?

A Brief History
About Apps


Four Neat Apps


• The Family Meals cookbook is “designed by moms
to help you manage your family schedule, feed your
busy family and keep an organized home”.

• The cookbook is sold in print, and sells for $24.95 at
retail price and $19.99 at web price.

• When you buy the book, you can use it in
combination with a free app that’s provided.

• If you don’t want the p-book, the alternative is to
purchase individual chapters of the book at $3.99
each in the app store.

• If you decide to buy all six chapters in the app store,
the total will come to $23.94. (For those of you who
LOVE a deal, that’s a grand saving of $1.01! Woo
hoo!!!).


“But Duany, you’re not a mom, you imposter! How
the heck do you know about an app for moms?”


I heard it from a mom, of course!

Meet my sister Rittel. She’s here to explain how
the app works and what’s so great about it.


Food For Thought

☞

☞

☞


Food For Thought

Incorporating an app into a book provides added value to the purchase. It was a
☞ big selling feature for Rittel.

☞

☞


Food For Thought


Adding an app into the p-book is a means by which a publisher could generate
☞ more income, by selling chapters individually for access by tablet, mobile device
or iPod touch. You can cross-promote between both platforms.

☞


Food For Thought


Adding an app into the p-book is a means by which a publisher could generate
☞ more income, by selling chapters individually for access by tablet, mobile device
or iPod touch. You can cross-promote between both platforms.

The app helps make planning and shopping for family meals quick and
☞ straightforward for busy moms on the go. It makes things easier for them and is a
time-management solution.


• Alice for the
iPad Video


About the
App
Matthew Ingram Chris Stevens
(co-founder of Atomic Antelope)
✤ Brings a whole new range of interactivity to
the classic children’s book. The app costs
$8.99. ✤ We’re the top-grossing children’s book on the
iPad app store. It’s the first time technology has
✤ Readers can turn and move the iPad to help been applied in this way, and we’re overwhelmed
Alice grow taller or shorter and throw tarts at by the reaction we’ve had.
the Red Queen.
✤We ... designed the book to be enjoyed by a
✤ I know that many people believe reading child, and abridged it so that it can be ... read in a
should be a quiet and relaxing activity, and that single bedtime reading.
there’s nothing like communing with the pages
of a well-read classic, but this [app] makes ✤ We see Alice as a kind of super-modern take on
reading “Alice in Wonderland” look like... the pop-up book format.
well, it looks like a lot of fun. I have a feeling if
Charles Dodson (i.e., Lewis Carrol) could see ✤Although we weren’t conscious of it at the time,
his story represented like this, he would we’ve been hailed as the future of the format.
probably think it was kind of fun as well.


Just How did they
DO it?


Just How did they
DO it?
1. Found an incredibly old copy of Alice in Wonderland and
scanned the illustrations.


Just How did they
DO it?

2. Put the images into Photoshop and cleaned them up
extensively, bringing out the colour and detail of Tenniel’s original
work for Lewis Carrol.


Just How did they
DO it?


3. Redrew scenes and characters, and added new illustrated
objects that could move around the screen.


Just How did they
DO it?



4. Resulting layered Photoshop graphics were then imported into
Apple’s Xcode software, where they added virtual gravity and
physics to the characters and objects.


Just How did they
DO it?



4. Resulting layered Photoshop graphics were then imported into
Apple’s Xcode software, where they added virtual gravity and
physics to the characters and objects.

5. The book uses data from the iPad’s accelerometer (a special
circuit that senses velocity and orientation of the iPad) to figure
out how objects topple around the screen.


Keep In Mind
☞

☞

☞


Keep In Mind
Alice for the iPad is a new approach to what a ‘book’ on a smartphone
☞ could be.

☞

☞


Keep In Mind
☞ could be.

☞ The article by Sophie Rochester, “Ten Challenges to Innovation.”

☞


Keep In Mind
☞ could be.

☞ The article by Sophie Rochester, “Ten Challenges to Innovation.”

As Chris Steven’s says, “The temptation will naturally be to throw this
technology at every book, but the craftsmanship behind implementing
☞ this technology is as important as the technology itself. It’s not a short-
cut to ‘enhancing’ a book for the digital age, and the power to create
these books must be wielded as deftly and wisely as an illustrator’s
pen.”


ComicGlass
This application allows you to view scanned
comics, manga, magazines and books on
iPhone/iPod touch/iPad.
You can easily transfer scanned images
(zipped jpeg or RAR) from your computer to
your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad, and view zip-
files or RAR-files without decompressing.


Handy Features


Main Point to Remember
About ComicGlass
☞

☞


About ComicGlass
Certain audiences require certain features of
☞
their apps. Apps have to cater to their needs.

☞


About ComicGlass
Certain audiences require certain features of
☞
their apps. Apps have to cater to their needs.

Apps need to be designed with the
☞
touchscreen in mind.


What Should I Take
Away from Adobe DPS?
☞

☞


What Should I Take
☞ The world is our oyster as designers.

☞


What Should I Take
☞ The world is our oyster as designers.

Like Richard Nash encourages in his article “Revaluing the Book”:
[Don’t be afraid to] test out a bunch of ... assumptions and ﬁgure out
☞ what are the most efﬁcient ways to create tools, products, and
experiences that help writers and readers.


Now Let’s See If You Paid
Attention...


Attention...
What are qualities of good apps?
What purposes do they have?


Attention...

• Reasonably priced


Attention...


• Add value


Attention...


• Add value

• Offer solutions


Attention...


• Add value

• Offer solutions

• Designed with a speciﬁc audience
in mind


Attention...


• Add value

• Offer solutions

in mind

• Caters to the needs of the audience


Attention...


• Add value

• Offer solutions

in mind


• Fun


Attention...

• Interactive

• Add value

• Offer solutions

in mind


• Fun


Attention...

• Interactive

• Add value
• Simple

• Offer solutions

in mind


• Fun


Attention...

• Interactive

• Add value
• Simple

• Offer solutions
• Easy to navigate

in mind


• Fun


Attention...

• Interactive

• Add value
• Simple

• Offer solutions

• Compatible across different devices
in mind


• Fun


Attention...

• Interactive

• Add value
• Simple

• Offer solutions

in mind

• Works well with touch screen

• Fun


Attention...

• Interactive

• Add value
• Simple

• Offer solutions

in mind

• Works well with touch screen

• Fun • Intuitive


The Greater Context
So we’ve looked at four apps. We’ve discovered that
the main function of an app is to enhance people’s
experiences for the better. As future (or current!)
publishers, we need to start thinking about how we
can creatively build positive, enriching experiences for
readers. The better their experience is, the better
results we’ll be bound to see. We may not be the ones to
create the next Alice for the iPad phenomenon, but
these are the things we should be keeping in mind so
that we can increase the value of our products. As one
customer said it best, “Apps need to be desirable
enough to encourage people to part with their money.”


Other Noteworthy Apps
and Links to Check Out
• X code 4

• Chris Stevens from AtomicAntelope, the creator of the interactive book - Alice
for the iPad, gives you his top tips on how to build great applications for the iPad
that will actually sell

• Swipe®
-‐
The
History
of
"Apps",
iPhone,
iPad
and
Android

• E-book File Formats

• Making Alice for the iPad

• Pricing Guide for Adobe Digital Publishing Suite

• Scrivener


Digitizing Experience: The Value of Apps and E-Books in Publishing

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