| Beyond the Story |
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Beyond the Story For Publishers:
Comment from our CTO, Kirk Bowe "It's clear that many people still want to enjoy their reading on the printed page; many have these great smart phones on which they check websites and keep in touch with friends, but digital print isn't necessarily there yet for all audiences. Our Beyond The Story, satiates readers’ desire to engage more deeply with amazing stories, yet at the same time appreciate that a hardback or a paperback is still the way they want to consume the core novel. The message we're sending, to readers and booksellers alike, is we understand that book consumption is going through a necessary evolution, but we see that many readers are loyal to the high-street-and-paper experience, and we offer them something truly valuable that enables them to savour the traditional reading process while augmenting it with the digital platforms that are becoming a part of their daily lives." Beyond the Story for Non-Fiction: Authors can deliver their expert knowledge in a more interactive way, using timelines, themes, maps, etc. This is applicable to subject matter experts such as historians, scientists, architects, craftsmen and business leaders. This "expert interactive lecture" treatment generates a new market for authors and their publishers. Typically, these authors such have a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm that can only be part-conveyed by the written word. Many such authors have multiple axes on which they can communicate, and while the printed book can satiate a certain audience, there is now the potential to use digital technologies to bring relationship between the reader and the author in to the third dimension. This enhancement to Beyond the Story, enables authors to bring to the surface ancillary materials, such as maps, timelines, and research documents, and make these "first class citizens" of the reader's experience. Within the application, the reader is primarily engaged by a mixture of timelines and "theme ribbons", with supporting videos of the author providing further information. In this environment, the text of the related book may or may not be present, depending on the extent of the author's digital presence. How does this work for publishers? It opens up an additional market in which the audience is more attracted to the wider communication skills of certain authors, where otherwise they may not be tempted by a weighty tome alone. And importantly, by being able to provide this new "360 degree" market, the publisher is able to secure deals with authors who may otherwise dissipate their interactive rights elsewhere, or leave them unexploited altogether. With the expansion in to the digital space, publishers will increasingly have to offer "innovative digital value" to existing and new authors alike. Beyond the Story + eBook treatment This is the natural evolution for people who want their entire reading experience on digital devices. Here, rather than being a companion to the printed word, the application contains the electronic version of the book. As the reader moves through the eBook, contextually relevant "bonus material" is presented alongside (in an unobtrusive fashion, and can be completely "turned down" when necessary). Such bonus material is as with existing Beyond the Story applications and includes: author commentaries, facsimiles of research material, maps, artwork, etc. The advantage of the BtS + eBook approach? Neither Apple nor Amazon will be providing anything like this kind of rich eBook experience in the near future, because to do so they must make a broader business case agreement across all publishers. Therefore, through our patent-protected and innovative platform, we have a unique opportunity to give publishers access to the digital market now. |
