This link is from the Morning Coffee section on Nate's blog, the Digital Reader,
From eBooks to cBooks – new eBook format combining the best of book and film in an exciting new story platform.
I cringe every time I read about some "exciting" new format which is going to revolutionise reading by creating some bastardised hybrid of existing formats. In this particular case we have the cbook, short for cinematic book. Basically an ebook with significant length mp4 videos after every chapter which are integral to the plot. It seems the narrative links the video clips.
I should mention here that the cbook is not technically a new ebook format at all. Apparently the video is embedded in the ibook version, but in the Kindle version utilises links to the video, so is presumably meant to be read whilst online. Presumably it is a kf8 or kfx ebook with the links to the relevant video clips. There would seem to be no obstacle to embedding video clips in epub3 files, but it is unclear whether the book uses embedded video or links on other platforms like Kobo or Google Play. Amazon and Kobo pages for the book show a warning not to buy it unless you can view video on your device.
In my view this is no revolution, simply yet another marketing exercise. Basically, the Monsoon Tide as a cbook started with the finished feature film. It is no surprise that one of the benefits of the format is, to quote;
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Although we have secured sales for our film Monsoon Tide, the cBook gives another income stream while promoting the film at the same time. Win-win!
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Further justifications for the need for this "new format" are tenuous to say the least. For instance:
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In our view, e-books are, for the most part, merely replicating conventional books in an electronic format.
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Yes. Of course they are. This is what I want as a reader, and I'm sure I'm not alone. As a general rule I don't want my reading experience "enhanced". It doesn't need enhancing.
The article goes on to say that because of this, ebooks "are losing market share to the old style print books." Which of course is quite simply not true.
What we have here is neither a new format nor a revolutionary one. It simply links text narrative to video clips, just like many web pages. It is in my view basically a conventional ebook with hyperlinks (or in the case of IBooks at least, embedded video). Marketing disguised as revolutionary innovation.