Apps vs. eBooks: What’s the difference?

With all the whizz-bang things you can do with ebooks these days, and all the apps that are built to accompany print books, it’s no wonder that there’s a great deal of confusion about how these two things differ.

It’s not an app, it’s an ebook!

Since we started using iBooks Author to create our own enhanced ebook editions, we’ve fielded a lot of questions about whether our books are apps, or eBooks, or multi-touch books, or ePub 3 versions, etc. So, inspired by the wonderful, brilliant people at RSA Animate, I thought I’d try to help clear up the confusion around eBooks and apps with this little video:

(Warning: I am, as you will see, less than skilled in the art of drawing, so please excuse my crooked lines and weird angles)

Was that helpful? I hope so! Let me know what you think below.

The Digital Generation

Our guest blog today comes from Evie Prysor-Jones, who we met a few weeks ago at City University. As her MA in Publishing Studies at City University comes to an end, Evie (@Evelyn_PJ) is trying to spend less time reading young adult fiction and more time actually studying. She is a frequent tweeter, blogger and ponderer of the world at large and is pursuing a career in children’s publishing.

I was once told the Internet was in my blood. This thought terrified me not only because it reminded me of some twisted Charlie Brooker program, but it also seemed like an awful responsibility. If the Internet is in my blood surely I should know everything, know how to do everything, and have a built-in navigation system in my brain. My frequent wanderings around London have disproved that theory at least.

This comment, that I’m sure was meant to be off-hand and not designed to instigate a tirade of panicked thought, got me thinking about how much digital technology is in my life now. I have a smart phone, tablet, eBook reader and a laptop, and I NEED them all.

Sure, they look clever, but can they change a light bulb?

Most people of my age can swipe, type and discover things with alarming precision and speed. But I’m starting to worry this efficiency is wiping our common sense.

For example; recently my friend and I were on one of our many London strolls (due to our lack of inbuilt Google Maps) and decided the cold was too much for our shivering bones and we would get a taxi. She fumbled with her freezing fingers for the ingenious app on her smart phone that could tell her where the nearest black cab was. While she was tapping, I did something crazy – I stuck out my arm. It is getting to the stage where we expect technology to do everything for us, and when it doesn’t, we’re left stranded in the foolish position of realising the shortest route from A to B did not require a “slide to unlock.”

If this is happening to people of my age now, people who do actually remember a time before the Internet and mobile phones, then what is going to happen to those being born into it? In Hanna Rosin’s article The Touch-Screen Generation, she calls people like me ‘digital natives’. We pick up how to use technology very quickly because we’ve grown up with it to some extent. On the other side of the spectrum are ‘digital immigrants,’ who are coming into the swipe-and-tap world as complete strangers. But I am only the first generation of digital natives and I’m starting to worry that as time goes on, the next digital natives are going to be more digital than human.

Children are incredibly fast at picking up how to use things. Show a child once and suddenly they are swiping and tapping their way to taking over the world. Whilst I don’t believe digital means the end of books, and certainly think children can have just as much fun making mud pies outside, there is no point denying that digital is here to stay. And it’s us, the current generation of adults that are responsible for what digital products these techy toddlers are getting access to. It is our responsibility to create products which encourage children to do something creative.

Wonderful products like the Toca Boca digital toys (I especially like the Toca Boca Tea Party app), and websites like Hot Key’s own Story Adventure encourage children to use digital platforms to create their own entertainment. They get to have fun, they get to play and they get to access exciting content in brand new ways. It gets them thinking, inventing and most importantly, using their imaginations. This is critical, because if we expect the next few generations to solve problems and handle chaos, we better make sure they know how to think for themselves.

Creative thought is a survival skill in today’s society. I still stand by the belief that the best way to ensure we remain human is through a combination of playing with new technology, spending time with people and being chucked outside to make mud pies. Being a ‘digital native’ doesn’t necessarily mean you are just ‘digital’. You can have a million devices and still be a creative individual too. Perhaps having the Internet in your blood is too exclusive, but having technology at your fingertips is nothing to fear, you just need to think about it.

Sneak a peek at The History Behind THE QUIETNESS

For the past few months, we’ve been running around to London’s archives and museums gathering a treasure trove of interesting material for our third iBook. This interactive ebook is a companion to Alison Rattle’s brilliant novel, THE QUIETNESS, which is set in Victorian London. This novel tells the story of two girls from very different parts of society who ultimately end up embroiled in the dark world of baby farming.

The facts behind this book — the real hardships of life in Victorian London, the real criminals who were convicted of murdering infants for money — are endlessly fascinating. This iBook will take you deeper into the world of Victorian women, children, doctors, and policemen. Plus, you’ll get an exclusive videos about Alison’s writing process, her research, and a bit of insight into her next book. If you’ve downloaded our other iBooks, you’ll notice that this one is just a bit different — it sits separate to the text of the novel. It’s something to download after you’ve read (and loved) the book, so your experience of the story doesn’t have to end with the last page.

We’re just a few weeks away from releasing the iBook, but in the meantime, here’s a screenshot of one of the sections:

Just wait until you see the full iBook!

Bowling, group love-ins and metadata…

Last Thursday and Friday, a bunch of us went down to Chelsea Harbour for a Bonnier Group Love-in, including food, presentations and bowling, officially known as the Bonnier Manager’s Conference. This is an annual event where all the publishers in the Bonnier Publishing group get together and we all get an update on what our lovely sisters are doing.

And then we all lose all that sisterly love, just like in a real family, and battle it out on the bowling alley in the evening. Hot Key Bowling Report: Sarah Odedina is actually a secret bowling star, Emily Thomas wins the most enthusiastic member of the team ever and Jet Purdie was the one that actually scored most of our points (who isn’t surprised by that?). It all got a little serious at points I must say. For instance Autumn publishing took things VERY seriously:

Things got serious(ly competitive)

But anyway, I digress. Being part of a group like Bonnier Publishing is great. Firstly – nobody takes themselves too seriously, and everyone is very approachable. Nobody is corporate. For instance – which other CEO would let themselves be caricatured and put right there on the website?

The Bonnier Publishing CEO Richard Johnson reading CEO for Dummies.

It also means though we have strength in numbers – we can share some functions like having a group sales and accounts team – but then also each company is decentralized which means we all have full editorial control and each have our own identities. Look out for our sister companies blog takeover in a few weeks time where you can get to know them all a bit better.

I was given the unenviable task of task of talking to the group about metadata. SAY WHAT NOW? I hear you ask. Well…metadata is how people find our books online, so it is mega important. But only to a data-geek I hear you say? Well here’s how I convinced people otherwise with a little video conversation…with a little help from Xtranormal.com:

What can I say, apart from after that, metadata was certainly the word of the conference!

eBooks — The Good Things!

Hi! I’m Georgia- I’m nearly thirteen, and an avid reader, writer and blogger. I love to read any kinds of books I can find, mainly adventure, horror, and crime. I read and review books as a hobby, and hope to get a job as either an author or something in the publishing world one day. I blog about books at this address: www.booksandwritersjnr.wordpress.com.

A big thanks, firstly, to Hot Key Books for letting me do a guest post on their brilliant blog. It was hard to decide what to write about but I finally decided to write about ebooks; the good things about them and the future of them, as most people just point out the bad things.

Real books are brilliant–it’s so great to walk around book shops, to hold a book in your hands and turn the pages. However, ebooks arrived a few years ago, and the market for them totally blew up (in a good way, of course!) with the introduction to the Kindle. As sad as it is to see fewer bookshops on the streets, e-Books are pretty great inventions. Most people focus on the bad things, but there are many good aspects too, here are a few:

•  If a friend recommends a book to you, no matter where you are or what time it is, you can download and start reading that book easily.
• Although e-Readers and iPhones use electricity, they save paper (and trees!).
• Also, they are easier to transport than a real book (especially if it’s a big one like Under My Hat, the collection of witchy short stories).

Above all of those reasons, though, I think that the best thing about ebooks is the invention of interactive books, like the Maggot Moon and A World between Us iBooks, for example.

In the Maggot Moon iBook, there are animations that show the reader what it is like to see through Sally Gardner’s and the main character of the book, Standish Treadwell’s eyes. Both are dyslexic, and it’s a great achievement what Sally has done; writing such great, unforgettable books with dyslexia. There are other extras on the interactive book too, like interviews with Sally Gardner, pictures, the ability to tweet quotes from the book, and little snippets about Sally and how she wrote the book too.

I think that the interactive activities in the enhanced editions of Maggot Moon and A World Between Us help reluctant readers to get stuck into great books. After all, the animations and extras really bring the story to life just as well as the words the writer wrote do! That, I think, is the most special thing about ebooks; they help to involve readers with their extras and accessibility.

What do you think the future will be like for books, and ebooks? Will the paper book cease to exist one day, whilst everybody ends up with an eReader? Although more people are reading thanks to them, I heard some shocking facts about how, in some countries, people have only ever read books on their phone. I really hope that the proper book doesn’t fade from existence… even though ebooks seem to be overpowering them at the moment. As great and innovative as ebooks are, real books will always be the best for me. What about you?

Staying ahead of the game

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to New York for the Tools of Change for Publishing conference – a summit about new technologies and business models relevant to help us publishing folk move forward. It’s a brain-melting three days where you spend your whole time going ‘ooh, ooh, that’s so cool’ and wishing you had infinite time/money/skills to do EVERYTHING.

Obviously, I can’t wrap up three days in one short Friday blog post, so I won’t, but I wanted to highlight a few particularly cool projects, people and companies I saw.

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Paperight – this great project turns photocopy shops in developing countries into legal bookshops, so that many more people in villages and towns can have access to text. See more here!

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Thrillbent.com  is new way of reading comics online where the pages come alive on the screen – check it out!

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WorldReader.org - this is a great project getting ereaders into the hands of kids that need access to stories the most. Get involved!

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And finally, this was shown as the keynote for the first day to make us all laugh -  let’s hope we don’t forget how to use the traditional paper book

This is of course only a TINY SNAPSHOT of the amazing speakers that were at TOC – you can take a look at some of the other Keynote speakers and stay in touch with their blog and community site here.

(And if you ever get the chance to go – don’t hesitate!)

Sarah

Cold Keys

Before Christmas, Sarah O and Ruth went to Sweden to visit our parent company Bonnier in Stockholm. Of course, they came back with good stories, but they also came back with the exciting news that we (Sara OC, Sarah B and Amy) were asked to take our own journey to Stockholm to expand on our wacky (read: extremely successful and innovative) digital program.

So, a few weeks later, we boarded a plane to Stockholm. Sara OC and Sarah B were delighted by the snow covered terrain they viewed out the window as we landed, whereas Amy felt like it was pretty much par for the course having grown up in the snowy midwestern regions of the US.

The Swedish hospitality began the moment we landed in Stockholm. Just check out our welcoming committee:

Yes, this was in the baggage claim area, along with an all ABBA soundtrack.

The fabulous children’s team at Bonnier Carlsen had a slate of meetings arranged for us over two days. Each meeting we had was buzzy and inspirational, and resulted in lots of idea-sharing. Take our meeting with Mix Forlag for example — these ladies (literally two people) — have put together the coolest reading app! It’s called Dead Time — basically, you click on the app, and then a little timer comes up. You set the minute had to however much time you have before you next train or before your appointment, and then the app brings up several short stories which you can read in your selected time slot. SO AWESOME.

We met most of the children’s editorial team, the group digital team, and web site and social media team, to discuss both our projects and what they have planned for the future. We showed them some of our best crazy videos and we hear there may be an increase in funny video content coming from Bonnier Carlsen editorial in the near future. They encouraged us to think outside the box with regards to ebooks and ebook covers. We’re already charging ahead on several projects in relation to this idea.

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A few things we learned about the Swedish digital market:

1. NO AMAZON (yet) — They don’t have Amazon controlling the majority of the digital market like we do, which leads to the next point…

2. DISTRIBUTION CONTROL — Bonnier, and the other major publishers in the market all own a part of the main ebook distributor in the country.

3. SOCIAL DRM (digital rights management) — This is standard practice. Like  Harry Potter, when you buy the digital books, they are watermarked with some personal details, so publishers can trace piracy. But this also means you can share with your friends and your various devices.

4. LIBRARY LENDING — They also told us that 90 percent of ebooks are read through the library.

5. IPADS ARE KING — In a market without Kindles, iPads are the device of choice for e-reading.

All in all, it was a great trip professionally. Of course, we scheduled in time to take in some of the local cuisine and breathtaking sights (and when we say breathtaking, we mean it was impossible to breath as ice chips were being whipped in our faces). Pics are below:

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We are so grateful to Ulrika and Lotta for helping us organise this trip. We do hope to return, hopefully in the summer.

- Sara, Sarah and Amy

The bogey man in the cupboard at the Costa Book Awards

Our blog today comes from our Managing Director Sarah Odedina. Sarah attended the Costa Awards ceremony with our author Sally Gardner, whose book Maggot Moon won the Costa Children’s Award.

Last night was the Costa Book Awards party and Hilary Mantel triumphed, winning the overall prize as well as the novel award, with Sally Gardner winning the children’s award,  Francesca Segal winning the first novel award, Kathleen Jamie winning the poetry award and Mary and Bryan Talbot winning the biography award.  Each of the books is a wonderful ‘story’ waiting to be read and will be enjoyed by many people still to come.

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During the ceremony there was an interesting moment when head judge Dame Jenni Murray told the guests that because she chose to read the physical editions instead of the ebooks on her Kindle, she felt that she had proof that the digital format was a ‘second choice’ and that print editions were far superior in terms of providing true enjoyment and a more intellectual experience.  She went on to say that she would save her Kindle for light easy holiday throwaway reading…the kind of books, by implication, that are somehow less worthy of respect and possibly enjoyment.

The guests, publishers, authors, agents,  obviously all book-loving individuals, duly clapped. I didn’t. I was a bit bemused.  Why does the digital edition have to be constantly maligned by ‘real book lovers’?  What on earth is wrong with reading a book in the digital format?  Surely the point is for the book to be read, for the story to be shared, for the author’s work to be enjoyed by a reader.  If that reader chooses to prefer to read the book digitally as opposed to in a print format does that make them somehow lightweight or less of a ‘real book lover’?

I also wonder if, with this rather archaic and hierarchical attitude, many people in the book world will miss the opportunity to communicate with readers properly. When there is an implicit snobbery about form, will potential readers be deterred from ever getting to the content?  Will a sixteen-year-old young adult who comes across this attitude feel immediately alienated from the precious object being talked about?  I suspect that they will.  When will ‘real book lovers’  get over feeling that ebooks are the bogey men hiding in the cupboard and truly and properly embrace them as simply another format which allows us to link readers with authors and their stories?  I also wonder if this attitude is not helping us as an industry in our fight to maintain pricing.  Surely if we perceive the format as so inferior the lack of value attached to it culturally reflects in the value we attach to it financially.

I am sure that the time will come when these sorts of comments, and the support for them, will be harder to make.  I hope that before that time comes we don’t lose an entire generation of digitally savvy readers who don’t want to be made to feel inferior for their choices.

A madcap writing experiment

Today, Hot Key is embarking on an ambitious experiment in online writing.

Fleur Hitchcock is the author of the Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week (and Brandford Boase long-listed) title SHRUNK!

Just like us, she is eager to bring young readers into the writing and publishing experience. And not in any superficial way — she is bravely opening up her third book to the influences of over 1000 young readers.

The Story Adventure (http://www.thestoryadventure.com) kicks off today, where Fleur posts the first chapter of the sequel to SHRUNK! and asks all the members (some signed up on their own, some signed up with their whole class) to answer questions about things that could happen next in the story.

It’s a free project, designed for teachers and after school activity, tied in to the curriculum and a whole lot of fun.

Fleur has a general idea of where the story is going, but is open to any and all possibilities — which the Adventurers are already providing with drawings, models and lots and lots of suggestions.

We have no idea how it’s all going to turn out, but over the next 18 weeks – with a new chapter every week – we are looking forward to getting young people excited about books and reading and writing and about Fleur’s fantastic books.

Do you know a young reader who might be interested? Send them over to The Story Adventure.

And if you want to hear about the project from Fleur’s point of view, check out her blog on the subject: http://fleurhitchcock.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/scary-and-its-started/

The Adventure of a Lifetime

Today, we unveiled the website for Fleur Hitchcock’s Story Adventure, a four month long interactive writing project, where Fleur will actually write her next book, chapter by chapter, week by week, with feedback from young readers.

I loved CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE™ books when I was young. I would read every possibility, flipping back and forth between the pages. This is like choosing the adventure for actual and real.

This project is an experiment. We have no idea how it’s going to turn out. When Fleur, in her intro video, says she wants the ideas to be “the madder the better” she really means it, and so the story could follow a general story arc or it could go completely out into nowhere.

Either way, Fleur – and we – are determined to give young readers the opportunity to make their voices heard, to have a chance to influence a story in their own way. In her blog announcing the project this morning, Fleur said:

This is what we hope the Story Adventure can do – give vent to those imaginations, let children come up with random ideas that they DON’T have to spell properly, give children some ownership, and give them something to read that they REALLY want.

By publication, I have no doubt that we will end up with the usual hilarious and charming book that Fleur writes. The biggest question is whether or not people will find the development of this project as exciting as we do. It’s a risky project to embark on — will teachers and librarians get on board; will young readers participate? — but we’re completely convinced this risk is worth it.

Look – it’s a shooting star. I’ve made a wish.

Help make my wish come true and visit/register at www.thestoryadventure.com and/or tell any 7 to 10 year old readers that you might know about the project.

We can’t wait to see your ideas and hear your feedback. You can comment below, or on the site!