Native EPUB Desktop Publishing Program Playwrite Available

[ebooksepub]

Looks like a native EPUB 3 desktop publishing program for OS X.

Press Release


Wundr Announces the availability of Playwrite, an eBook creation software application.

Keywords: EPUB 3.0, digital publishing, eBooks, ePeriodicals, smartphones, tablets, authors, publishers, writers, self-publishers, desktop publishing


VANCOUVER, BC, February 18, 2015. Wundr, a Vancouver based technology company is announcing the availability of its eBook creation program called Playwrite for Mac OS X. The software can be obtained from the Mac App Store for $49.95 USD.

Playwrite is an eBook-based desktop publishing program designed for the creation of eBooks. Playwrite is unique in the publishing industry because it was designed and engineered specifically for the creation of eBooks with its native file format being EPUB 3. With its easy-to-use interface and powerful toolset, it makes the creation of eBooks accessible to not only professional publishers and designers, but also to self-publishers.

It eliminates such things as file conversions into the EPUB format and provides a what-you-see-is-what-you-get environment for creating eBooks.

create + publish
Wundr is a privately held digital publishing company based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. With a dedication to open standards such as EPUB 3.0, Wundr’s mission has been to make it easy and low cost for anyone to create beautiful, interactive eBooks and ePeriodicals with wide distribution to multiple sales channels and devices.

Software link:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/play...21?ls=1&mt=12#

[JSWolf]

Does this program generate ePub 3 or does it generate iBookspub?

[eschwartz]

Awesome, just what we need -- another WYSIWYG editor for people to do stupid things with.

I wonder what precisely this offers that Sigil does not -- besides EPUB3 compatibility, and @KevinH has announced his intent to contribute EPUB3 capabilities to Sigil.

Does this software allow any sort of code view?

Does this software work on most peoples' computers -- that is to say, Windows? Do they have any plan to port it to Windows?


Hmm, this software appears to have been on the market since 2013 -- the Wikipedia article on it was created in May of that year.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does this program generate ePub 3 or does it generate iBookspub?

It is a private company, and the native file format is "EPUB3" -- I am guessing not the iBookspub.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

It is a private company, and the native file format is "EPUB3" -- I am guessing not the iBookspub.

The reason I ask is because this program is only available for OS X and it could very well be creating iBookspub code and not real ePub 3 code.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The reason I ask is because this program is only available for OS X and it could very well be creating iBookspub code and not real ePub 3 code.

Well, they appear to be marketing towards multiple storefronts, not just Apple, so I do dearly hope they create normal EPUB3 code... of course, if all they know is how to use iBooks, it is entirely possible that they consider an EPUB3 to be anything with multimedia and a .epub file extension.

[PeterT]

What kind of scares me is this

Easily create beautiful, interactive eBooks in ePub 3.0. When you're done, publish your content with 1-click.

I dunno, but interactive eBooks??

[murg]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I dunno, but interactive eBooks??

Sure. They're called ads...

[WillAdams]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I dunno, but interactive eBooks??

Why not?

I think there's a lot of potential for such --- there's the traditional:

- http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/jav.../elements.html --- Euclid's Elements, Joyce's Java version
- http://motionmountain.net/ --- free physics textbook as a .pdf w/ animation
- http://www.atpm.com/4.06/page13.shtml --- I really wish this were still workable and available --- the codex viewer was way cool

I really wish that the interactive SVG diagrams which I've been making for the Shapeoko instructions could be used in ebooks: http://wanderfulstorybooks.com/

There're kid books such as:

- http://bemboszoo.com/ --- requires Flash --- mute speakers if animal noises aren't appropriate
- http://wanderfulstorybooks.com/ --- the successor to the Living Books CD-ROMs

[PeterT]

Many existing eBook readers aren't designed for interactive publications.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Many existing eBook readers aren't designed for interactive publications.

They pretty much all support interaction in the form of hyperlinks, which can be used for the "choose your own adventure"-type ebook, for example.

What ePub 3 gives the potential for isn't so much interaction as multimedia content. It's much easier to produce multimedia content in the form of an ePub book than having to write a standalone app to do it, for example.

[ebooksepub]

Playwrite is a native EPUB 3 program. There is no conversion happening in the background. It's strictly native in EPUB 3 format in compliance with the IDPF's EPUB 3 specs. It has a responsive framework so content adjusts itself on different devices.

The program/company aren't dedicated to any one particular reading platform.

[JSWolf]

The problem is there are not that many programs/apps to actually handle ePub 3 with multimedia content. So you'd be trying to sell these eBooks to almost nobody.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem is there are not that many programs/apps to actually handle ePub 3 with multimedia content. So you'd be trying to sell these eBooks to almost nobody.

iBooks is the primary one, I believe, and that's a program that every iPhone and iPad user has - or can freely download.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

iBooks is the primary one, I believe, and that's a program that every iPhone and iPad user has - or can freely download.

But that's not ePub 3. That's Apple's version of it and it's not quite the same.