What's the difference? Firstly, its main purpose, which is to inform, not entertain. The sole reason for writing Psyclone was to connect people with data expanded on in the 84-page appendix, which is another difference. Every piece of information and fact conveyed through narrative and dialogue with one exception is based on facts and information expanded on and linked to in the appendix.
Initially published in paperback just prior to the takeoff of eformat books, it wasn't until the release of the 2nd Edition, in eformat only, that its purpose was fully realised. The Preface to the 2nd Edition explains it thus:
Through this digital-only 2nd edition the full potential of Psyclone has been made more immediately available. Using hyperlinked footnote referencing absent in the 1st edition, readers can now interact with the novel and directly access
the information in the comprehensive appendix database. The introduction to the appendix explains its necessity and uses. Some readers may prefer to read the novel without accessing the database. In that case the presence of reference numbers will alert them to the existence of supporting and supplementary data, which can be accessed at their leisure.
For technical reasons associated with internal hyperlinks and active URLs, dissemination of the 2nd Edition through channels such as Smashwords, Lulu, Feedbooks, etc, wasn't possible. I say 'dissemination' rather than marketing or promotion as my main concern was information sharing not making money or a name for myself, so at that time was giving Psyclone away. The
Centre of the Psyclone website became the main platform for the novel, and served as a secondary appendix for all the other data I couldn't cram into an already overstuffed appendix in the book.
Since then Psyclone has developed what could be called an underground following among street-level, that is, urban grassroots-level, politicos and activists, and has received most commercial support from sociopolitically orientated independent bookshops. Discussions are currently in progress regarding translation to graphic version.
The main reason for posting here is because Mobileread is a device geek park, and I'm hoping to get some feedback regarding the book's cross-device functionality. Due to my hand-to-mouth existence, I don't own a reading device and have only viewed it on a borrowed iPad when proofing the 2nd Edition.
[Inappropriate - Deleted - Moderator]