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8 Posts
I read Konrath's blog but i suppose my posts are rather too long to be included or accepted there.
Firstly, i will say the technology is already there, and here.
I think most people over-complicate things by putting too many words, or sophisticated words, to them. For example
"cars that fly" instead of "aeroplanes" for example.
Everything he talked about can be done but i am not going to go to his site to refer back and forth, i will just
recall from memory.
Adobe has the technology where you can put videos inside PDF's for example.
If you create your book in HTML format, you can include a YouTube video inside it. And if you can embed a YouTube
video into a document, it means you can also embed Facebook content inside it. This means if your book is plain
HTML, then it can show YouTube videos and link to Facebook and other social media, and even contain frames of other
websites inside it etc. The book will automatically update with each and every change that happens to content
linked to it. Like i am saying, with plain HTML, it is possible. However, it will require an internet connection.
(It therefore should be possible to embed YouTube videos inside ePub documents. I think embedding videos inside
ePub documents is very practical. A ePub file is practically a zipped html file. I am not a uber programmer so only
time will tell. )
A alternative to this is to provide your book as software.
There are many learning materials that you can install as software which also play videos etc., and which can even
take you online via a link. You can even watch flash videos and download PDF or even Word documents (any type of
file) from them, and even play pre-installed audio files inside them.
He also spoke of the author having a social network for the book where readers can participate etc.
There are many online games and even some offline games that have such kind of capabilities.
I once test played a game called The Sims off-line. In that game, you can move the players whichever way you
want etc.
There is also Need for Speed 2, which i have had the pleasure to play offline. What is does is you can have
a "movie" replay of your race etc.
One game, if i remember very well it should be FIFA, even allows you to upload your photo and be one of the
characters.
On Facebook, you (now) also have a log of your chat with someone. A chat on many platforms can be copied and
pasted.
If you combine the capabilities of these games and the capability of the Facebook's chat function, you can have
people participate even in the dialogue inside the book, and being the characters etc, and then at the end of it
get a transcript of all conversations etc. And as a result someone has a personalized book copy which he would have
participated in its creation.
On Facebook, you can now even download your entries and photos (input), so i see nothing hard there.
Someone, on Konrath's blog, suggested that it would be expensive to create such a site for one's own books.
Fine.
You don't have to create a site just for yourself. (but if you can, it can give you a competitive advantage against
other authors) you can create the site to be used by authors, just like Amazon is used by authors. Using this
approach one should be able to recover the cost of developing the technology.
Ning did something similar. Ning could have create another "Facebook", but instead it offered its software to be
used by anybody to create a social network for free. Everyone began top build a network with similar features to
Facebook at a cost of nothing. Of course Ning later started to charge a fee.
Instead, in order to make money and recoup the huge investment to develop the technology, one would need to do it
using the "ning" approach.
Ning created the core software and website for people to create their own social networks for free. Later on it
started to charge membership fees.
In the same way, the developers of the technology (who don't necessarily ave to be authors) can let authors enjoy
all the features. The authors therefore don't need to invest in the technology. The principle is the same as the
one you are enjoying and using here on Kindleboards. Kindleboards took money to develop, but you are using it for
free. It still has the option to charge you a membership fee should it one day decide it wants to.
If you are a writer, then be a writer first and foremost.
There is a risk that, if you want a highly visual book with plentiful of illustrations, its readers would find it
better you had made a movie, or movie clip, or even a interactive game, or even a comic book. After all, movie
scripts and comic book scripts are also written by writers.
However, there is nothing wrong putting illustrations here or there. so long as you don't over-do it. Illustrations
could be the thing that gets your readers advertising your book to others by word-of-mouth leading to more sales.
To do that, even now, doesn't require Apple-like designing-genius. You can even do that with a simple jpeg image or
photo.
By the way
I write non-fiction focusing on business matters. I have one book so far, now 1.5 months in the kindle store;
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #298,899 Paid in Kindle Store. (At least it's not number 500 000!)
Firstly, i will say the technology is already there, and here.
I think most people over-complicate things by putting too many words, or sophisticated words, to them. For example
"cars that fly" instead of "aeroplanes" for example.
Everything he talked about can be done but i am not going to go to his site to refer back and forth, i will just
recall from memory.
Adobe has the technology where you can put videos inside PDF's for example.
If you create your book in HTML format, you can include a YouTube video inside it. And if you can embed a YouTube
video into a document, it means you can also embed Facebook content inside it. This means if your book is plain
HTML, then it can show YouTube videos and link to Facebook and other social media, and even contain frames of other
websites inside it etc. The book will automatically update with each and every change that happens to content
linked to it. Like i am saying, with plain HTML, it is possible. However, it will require an internet connection.
(It therefore should be possible to embed YouTube videos inside ePub documents. I think embedding videos inside
ePub documents is very practical. A ePub file is practically a zipped html file. I am not a uber programmer so only
time will tell. )
A alternative to this is to provide your book as software.
There are many learning materials that you can install as software which also play videos etc., and which can even
take you online via a link. You can even watch flash videos and download PDF or even Word documents (any type of
file) from them, and even play pre-installed audio files inside them.
He also spoke of the author having a social network for the book where readers can participate etc.
There are many online games and even some offline games that have such kind of capabilities.
I once test played a game called The Sims off-line. In that game, you can move the players whichever way you
want etc.
There is also Need for Speed 2, which i have had the pleasure to play offline. What is does is you can have
a "movie" replay of your race etc.
One game, if i remember very well it should be FIFA, even allows you to upload your photo and be one of the
characters.
On Facebook, you (now) also have a log of your chat with someone. A chat on many platforms can be copied and
pasted.
If you combine the capabilities of these games and the capability of the Facebook's chat function, you can have
people participate even in the dialogue inside the book, and being the characters etc, and then at the end of it
get a transcript of all conversations etc. And as a result someone has a personalized book copy which he would have
participated in its creation.
On Facebook, you can now even download your entries and photos (input), so i see nothing hard there.
Someone, on Konrath's blog, suggested that it would be expensive to create such a site for one's own books.
Fine.
You don't have to create a site just for yourself. (but if you can, it can give you a competitive advantage against
other authors) you can create the site to be used by authors, just like Amazon is used by authors. Using this
approach one should be able to recover the cost of developing the technology.
Ning did something similar. Ning could have create another "Facebook", but instead it offered its software to be
used by anybody to create a social network for free. Everyone began top build a network with similar features to
Facebook at a cost of nothing. Of course Ning later started to charge a fee.
Instead, in order to make money and recoup the huge investment to develop the technology, one would need to do it
using the "ning" approach.
Ning created the core software and website for people to create their own social networks for free. Later on it
started to charge membership fees.
In the same way, the developers of the technology (who don't necessarily ave to be authors) can let authors enjoy
all the features. The authors therefore don't need to invest in the technology. The principle is the same as the
one you are enjoying and using here on Kindleboards. Kindleboards took money to develop, but you are using it for
free. It still has the option to charge you a membership fee should it one day decide it wants to.
If you are a writer, then be a writer first and foremost.
There is a risk that, if you want a highly visual book with plentiful of illustrations, its readers would find it
better you had made a movie, or movie clip, or even a interactive game, or even a comic book. After all, movie
scripts and comic book scripts are also written by writers.
However, there is nothing wrong putting illustrations here or there. so long as you don't over-do it. Illustrations
could be the thing that gets your readers advertising your book to others by word-of-mouth leading to more sales.
To do that, even now, doesn't require Apple-like designing-genius. You can even do that with a simple jpeg image or
photo.
By the way
I write non-fiction focusing on business matters. I have one book so far, now 1.5 months in the kindle store;
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #298,899 Paid in Kindle Store. (At least it's not number 500 000!)
