Quote:
Originally Posted by pittendrigh
My last participation was more than a year ago. You remember more about me than I do.
Yes link rot is a problem. Solutions will evolve. I see on other forums a few new rounds of "how to I do video" questions have popped up recently.
I gave an answer that works. Start with sigil, finish up with a text editor. Then re-zip. Boom. It works in some readers and not in others. Support will increase over time.
That is a given.
Spam? Point taken. Next time I'll use the third person. That (people I know) actually use and make money with embedded video is a valid point. Also what I did say (in the past) is not in anyway SPAM because I did not say were said transactions occur. You have no idea where it happens.
When ever the "embedded video" subject comes up a veritable avalanche of negativity inevitably happens. But other authors (this time I won't say who) are not only doing it now but are also profiting from it. That is not only a valid but also a substantive point.
Video is a gathering evolution that cannot be stopped. Video is bad news for some and good news for others. It is coming at us--whether we like it or not.
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Y'know, you have a specific, unique niche that is how-to. And sure, I can see that using video inside eBooks would suit you.
But I'm not kidding in what I say. I've been in this business since '08; really since '09; been on the Amazon Professionals list since 2010. And in all that time, I've had ONE client that thought video in eBooks was gonna be the Next Big Thing and so, we embedded some video in some of her ebooks and it fell flatter than a mousse slammed down like a brick.
And in all that time, not once has anybody ever lamented it. I've had 6,000 authors and readers, etc. through my doors, literally. I've quoted more than 9,000 books. Again...you'd think that by now, I'd have had a ton of requests for it--but I don't. Why is that? We do more non-fiction books than fiction, by the way.
I've been hearing about how "video is a gathering evolution" for over a decade now. And the proponents of it keep saying it. Hell, APPLE tried to make it the Next Big Thing. Which took off...never. Not in Disney eBooks, not in anything.
IME, people who want video, get video. People go to Youtube or one of the others. Or they stream it, using Rokus, Amazon sticks, etc.
People who want books, want BOOKS. I just don't see, have never seen, any big crossover. Everybody who goes on and on about how it's the Next Big Thing is invariably somebody with how-to content to sell. Fine, great, wonderful--monetize your YT channel or whatever.
I don't know what else to say to you. it's clearly and patently NOT the Next Big Thing, because if it were, Apple's big honking push of the IDPF for ePUB3 multimedia (which was what, 5 YEARS ago, now?) would have taken hold and grown roots--and
it still hasn't. Why hasn't it, as the Next Big Thing?
What about the other Next Big Thing? the Immersedition, with multimedia? Cost them thousands to make that first eBook...and then...what's that sound? The sound of a rock, sinking through a deep lake. Nada, nothing, zip zein zilch. Oh, right it was gonna be HUUUGE in schools--who had no interest. She blew everything on that idea, the Immersedition and it tanked. How can that be, if video is the coming thing?
I just don't see what you see. And
believe me, I'd LOVE to charge for sticking worthless videos in ePUBs. Really would. It would be awesome. But...nix, nein, nyet, nope, not. In all those years, we've only quoted adding video a whopping 10x. I just checked, for the number of times we've included that in a quote, since 2011 (we didn't have a commercial quoting system, before that, but I'm 99.999% sure nobody asked us for video in eBooks before 2011).
TEN. 9,019 quotes since October of 2011.
10 quotes to add video to eBooks.
If that doesn't tell you something, I don't know what will. But hey, as the kids say, you do you.
Hitch