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Writing is about to require a lot more than a typewriter...

OK

So writing already requires a lot more than a typewriter, but if you count our word processors as glorified typewriters, then we can go from there.

Epub 3 is coming.

Here is the article I just read, How Publishers Should Prepare for EPUB 3 | Digital Book World.

As someone that is already trying to build their world online, I can tell you that I have ideas on what I will be trying to incorporate--pictures whenever a new creature is first introduced, commission composers/artists for any in-story songs, etc.

Ideally though, I think of these things as adding to the story and only interfering when the reader requests (like they have to click on the link or whatever to see a picture or a small alert shows up at the top of the page saying there is a musical accompaniment for that page, etc. )

How will you incorporate dynamic content and multimedia into your ebooks? Will you? Do you think books should stay innocent of multimedia?

Do you think this is the nail in the coffin for new paper books?

Would you be willing to pay more for a book that incorporated multimedia? Or does it devalue the book for you?
 
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Jared

Scribe
OK

So writing already requires a lot more than a typewriter, but if you count our word processors as glorified typewriters, then we can go from there.

Epub 3 is coming.

Here is the article I just read, How Publishers Should Prepare for EPUB 3 | Digital Book World.

As someone that is already trying to build their world online, I can tell you that I have ideas on what I will be trying to incorporate--pictures whenever a new creature is first introduced, commission composers/artists for any in-story songs, etc.

Ideally though, I think of these things as adding to the story and only interfering when the reader requests (like they have to click on the link or whatever to see a picture or a small alert shows up at the top of the page saying there is a musical accompaniment for that page, etc. )

The article mentions Google maps and a Twitter feed. I am a little wary of including anything that requires the reader be online for full functionality, let alone point to services that may disappear.

I would much prefer that delivery costs drop and everything required just ship with the ebook.


How will you incorporate dynamic content and multimedia into your ebooks? Will you?

I've toyed with the idea of putting together science primers for writers and have thought about needing to be able to do math, have ebook-specific dictionaries, movies, and diagrams. Some of that is already doable, some EPUB 3.0 would allow, some would still be hard, and some is reader-specific.


Do you think this is the nail in the coffin for new paper books?

No.


Would you be willing to pay more for a book that incorporated multimedia?

It depends. People already pay more for travel books. I would not pay more for a book that included Google Maps or a Twitter feed.
 
My gut instinct is that it just gives writers another tool. TV was supposed to kill radio, as we all know, but it didn't. ebooks won't kill paper books, either.

What I'd like to see, and what we're only scratching the surface of, is the true hypernovel. You can read a story or watch a video, and then you can go back to get more depth on the parts that interest you. You may not want to know the life story of every character in my book, but the ones you do want can be a click away. I even imagine interactive worlds where you can cut and paste characters from one setting to another.

Yes, I would incorporate multimedia into my work. In a heartbeat. My first published story (which is not fantasy, so I can't mention it) has graphic elements. My current project has so many characters that I want to include an appendix for them, with head shots and a custom font. The hypernovel could also include an interactive 3D map, a trailer for the book, a game, a chapter from the graphic novel, even a trailer for the movie with cuts from the soundtrack. If you can digitize material, why not include it and enhance the experience? The reader always the option to ignore it.

Then again, I'm a sort of Renaissance person and a computer geek. I don't have much trouble putting together digital stuff. I can see how all that would be daunting for someone who doesn't have experience with it.

From the article: “2012 will be the year when retailers adopt EPUB 3,” said Bill McCoy, executive director of the IDPF.

It's one thing to define a standard, another to get people to adopt it, and yet another to implement it well. It may take a while before you have to worry.
 
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squishybug87

Minstrel
I've actually seen a bit of this on Amazon I guess. An e-book I was looking at had multimedia options, which I thought was cool. I don't think it necessarily a death knell for paper books. Like someone mentioned above, if it requires you to be connected to the Internet to access, that could be problematic. I would do it, but I would also offer a regular version of my book. Sometimes you just want to read and let your imagination do the work.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Most of what I've read about EPUB3 seems aimed at the school/college/university text book.
Squishybug87 is right the death knell has been sounded for Radio, TV, Film, Theater, Books... over the last century or so and they all seem to be doing pretty well. I think what happens to print will be more like music, we'll lose the single/cheap CDs to the MP3 download [cheap paperbacks and much self published work] but vinyl will make a come back [the big hardback book]...
Like any tool - use it if you need it - but I can't see most stories needing it...
 
It's not at all the death knell for paper books. My first published book came out in paperback a year before it was available as an ebook but I had long had multimedia visions which included video and audio and even set that up via URLs in the text. The best one was where a newspaper report in the book referred to a URL and if the reader directed their browser there they would see the video described in the story (filmed at my house at no expense). There are also several songs in the book which people can hear on the book's website.

The publisher called it the book 2.0
 
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