TECHNOLOGY AND READING (This page was created in 2011 and has not been updated to reflect the current market. Think of it more as a brief history of apps.)
A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work
The Apple iPod was released in January 2001.
The Apple iphone went on sale June 29, 2007.
The Kindle went on sale in November 2007, ran out and was out of stock until April 2008.
Meanwhile...
- by Mashable
The iPad was announced in January, 2010 and went on sale April, 2010. The Kindle 3 (the $139 version) was announced in July 2010.
Our world hasn't been the same since...
How is the market responding?
E-book Sales Jump in June, Print Plunges E-book sales rose 167% in June, to $80.2 million, at the 15 houses that reported figures to AAP’s monthly sales report and closed the first half of the year with sales up 161%, to $473.8 million. In addition to e-books, downloadable audio sales (up 25%), and the religious books and university press segments were the only categories to post gains in the month.
The major trade segments took big hits in June due in part to the closing of more Borders stores. Trade paperback sales had the largest decline, down 64%, while children’s hardcover sales were off 31%. Adult hardcover sales fell 25%, mass market sales were down 22% and children’s paperback was off 13%. Sales in all the trade segments were also off by more than 10% for the first half of the year. - Publishers Weekly, September 12, 2011
A Present for Milo, Ruckus Media (Scholastic) December 2010 Started by Rick Richter, former President, Children's Division, S&S
The Fantastic Flying Books fo Mr. Morris Lessmore (May 2011) by Moonbot Studios (William Joyce)
Apps vs. eBooks
eBooks are flowing text. Images, videos and sounds can be locked within the text, however, images cannot be full bleed (won't run off edge) or fixed in place (to allow for resizable text). There is one exception to this - the TRON picture eBook. The tech is coming for full bleed eBooks, but not readily available yet.
Apps are mini programs/software, which means they can be absolutely anything from eBooks to full blown movies.
Negatives
DRM (digital rights management) - prevents books from being cross-platform
"high energy use (manufacture, maintenance)
short use life (landfill, chop shop)
fragile (water, banging, crushing, dust, extreme heat)
prone to theft (pawnable)
vulnerable to unavailability of energy
vulnerable to hacking/altering/recall, cf. the row over 1984" - Betsy James
POSITIVES
Easy access to more titles
Take up less space
Adjustable text size
Can travel with several titles without bulk
Smaller investment on books that aren't 'keepers'
People are reading more than ever
Audio Recording Support
Garage Band with sound editing in "Logic" or "Logic Pro"
iPhone Memo recorder
Katie Davis uses an Edirol digital recorder (new version called Roland something...)
digital camera, or digital video camera, tweak the sound in "Audacity" (free editor)
Sony PCM-M10 (built in stereo microphones, hard drive, connects to computer - iPhone size)
lav microphone (edit in Garage Band) Snowball microphone from Fry
Zoom H2 Portable Sound Recorder
Book Trailer created using Keynote, by Curtis Sponsler
From eisforbook.com - Loreen Leedy: "If you have a Mac, you can download the Keynote Mac app for $20, create a “presentation” (i.e. trailer) with moving images and text, add the audio in various ways (iMovie is one), then export it to QuickTime and load it on YouTube. The Keynote app gives options that iMovie doesn’t have, such as being able to float any font you like across an image."
Where to Learn More Austin, Texas SCBWI "Storytelling in the Digital Age (October 8, 2011) Southern Breeze SCBWI - WIK (Writing and ILlustrating for Kids) - October 14-15, 2011, Birmingham
Creative Considerations
– iPad's native resolution is 1024x768 pixels - now at 326ppi. Designing at twice that size will ensure clear, tight graphics.
– Apple takes 30% of all app revenue. That should be equated into any negotiations. If the split is 50/50 - that usually means after Apple's take.
– eBooks and Apps are NOT the same thing. eBooks are running text. They can support small images/videos/music/whatever locked into a location within the text. They cannot support full bleed images, hence you do not see the cover of a book when you open an eBook from the iBookstore (you only see it on your 'shelf'). Apps are like mini programs and exist seperately. They can do just about anything, however they are not sold in the iBookstore.
– There are no affiliate programs within the iBookstore or Apple store. So unlike Amazon where you can link to a book and make a small percentage from any sales - you can't with Apple.
