Improve ebooks - fiction & non-fiction

[meeera]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

Children who have difficulties in reading or imagining using a normal book, may want pictures, sound effects, music and even voice acting to become invested in the fictional novel they are reading,

Picture books. Audiobooks. And the time-honoured tradition of sitting down with your child and reading together. These are all fine things.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

Children who have difficulties in reading or imagining using a normal book, may want pictures, sound effects, music and even voice acting to become invested in the fictional novel they are reading, which are all central components of most other entertainment mediums they are consuming in this digital age (e.g movies, video clips, video games, audio dramas, theatre etc).

Want or need? I can go with need for a child with difficulties reading, but it shouldn't take the place of a parent reading with their child who does not have any such difficulty. The problem is that the bells and whistles can be awfully distracting - what is the child supposed to be focused on? Letters on the page or pictures on the screen? What are you trying to teach them - reading or watching?

The problem is that to appreciate the interaction the child needs understanding - and to get that they should be reading first. Watching pictures is awfully passive - it's like plonking the child down in front of the TV as a babysitter while you get on with other things.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by applesauce

So I find the below comment offensive.

Why? It clearly wasn't meant to be offensive. Nor would it apply to someone who clearly already "loves, adores reading."

Perhaps people shouldn't strive so hard to take offense where none was given.

[tomfyhr]

Some children and human beings in general have difficulties with reading or find reading downright boring.

What factors would you attribute that to, except for lack of practice and diseases?

From personal experience, do you read faster, slower or no change in pace when you read using an ebook (or on any digital device) in comparision to a physical book (or any physical paper)? Do you have an idea why that is so?

Are there any company other than Amazon´s Kindle´s X-Ray features that have content enhancing feature?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

or find reading downright boring.

Why on earth should we change the reading experience to cater to those who find it "downright boring?" If you find it boring (or don't like it), then do something else. Which, by the way, is all I was trying to say with my first post.

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

From personal experience, do you read faster, slower or no change in pace when you read using an ebook (or on any digital device) in comparision to a physical book (or any physical paper)?

No change in pace.

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

Do you have an idea why that is so?

Because reading the words of a book is reading the words of a book.

[tomfyhr]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why on earth should we change the reading experience to cater to those who find it "downright boring?"

I realize that is a rhetorical question, but the companies´ motif for doing that may be to make the book more commercially competitive to other forms of enteratainment (e.g movies) and make money for books that are targeted towards children and young adults.

Children and young adults are more prone to consume material that stimulate their senses more, which is simply not the case with the traditional book since it does not take into account the ears or the eyes (except for reading of course).

Today there are even trailers for books that target that demographic, which was something unheard of a decade ago, and it is a marketing ploy to emulate film industry, which children nowadays are so attached to.

In addition, I would assume the companies would make the extra content optional to consume with an on/off-switch, if that would in fact become a reality.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

Some children and human beings in general have difficulties with reading or find reading downright boring.

What factors would you attribute that to, except for lack of practice and diseases?

Different strokes for different folks.

Yes, some people cannot engage in reading due to physical or other constraints. (There are existing work-arounds for many of them though.) But some people just don't enjoy reading and for them it has nothing to do with "lack of practice and diseases." Changing reading into a video game or interactive television isn't going to get more people reading. It will get the same people who already play video games to play, possibly, different video games.

It is 100% possible to find / build better work-arounds for some people but trying to treat everyone who finds reading boring as "readers who lack practice or have a disease" is not going to help anyone.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

I realize that is a rhetorical question,

No. It wasn't rhetorical at all.

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

but the companies´ motif for doing that may be to make the book more commercially competitive to other forms of enteratainment (e.g movies) and make money for books that are targeted towards children and young adults.

Yes. I understand that it could prove to be very lucrative to be able market "books" and "reading" to people who don't actually like books or reading. But I thought you were asking what could be done to enhance the reading experience, not what could be done to enhance a company's bottom line.

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

Today there are even trailers for books that target that demographic, which was something unheard of a decade ago,and it is a marketing ploy to emulate film industry which children nowadays are so attached to.

Yes. And I find book "trailers" to be infinitely stupid as well. You used the perfect word to describe them (and the technique of selling books to people who don't want to read in general) yourself. That word is "ploy."

[tomfyhr]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

thought you were asking what could be done to enhance the reading experience, not what could be done to enhance a company's bottom line.

One of the reasons that pictures exists in children books at all is for, firstly, the child to relate to the characters on a visual level, and secondly serve as a point of reference so they do not have to struggle with imagining the characters in their head and can instead focus on the actual reading. From personal experience, I found it much easier to visualize and imagine the scenes in the novel as a child, when I already had a pre-existing image of how the character and scenery looked like.

And that concept of having pictures could be expanded upon to encompass all characters and scenes in a novel, especially in ebooks since publishing colored illustrations is not as expensive anymore since it is digital. (Note: it still roughly costs the same to produce the illustrations but not when it is published to the masses)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

...that concept of having pictures could be expanded upon to encompass all characters and scenes in a novel, especially in ebooks since publishing colored illustrations is not as expensive anymore since it is digital.

I'd like to introduce you to a little thing called Classics Illustrated.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

Children who have difficulties in reading or imagining using a normal book, may want pictures, sound effects, music and even voice acting to become invested in the fictional novel they are reading, which are all central components of most other entertainment mediums they are consuming in this digital age (e.g movies, video clips, video games, audio dramas, theatre etc).

It looks like what you're saying is you want something that kind of looks like a book, but really isn't one. There are already interactive books and learning games (like Reader Rabbit) that are intended to get kids interested in reading. But eventually they either learn to read or they don't. I don't want eBooks "tricked up" with gimmicks. I just want to read. The more an eBook looks like a real (printed) book, the more I like it.

And as you say, there are already many ways for non-readers to enjoy not reading. You don't need to re-engineer eBooks to create another platform for non-readers not to read.

[arjaybe]

I hope to see books with all levels of enhancement, with a large percentage having almost none. The act of seeing the story as it's created, just from the author's words, is unique. Not everyone enjoys that, but readers do. The other stuff is fine, though. I'm sure there will be a use for it.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

The other stuff is fine, though. I'm sure there will be a use for it.

Yes. It will be useful to publishers/retailers to market books full of extraneous material at a much higher price.

I'll repeat once more. This multimedia hybrid experience is available on the web now. It is available in apps for IOS and Android. It is available in games and movies. It is available on the web and on phones and tablets. What it usually comprises is a hybrid of old technologies masquerading as revolutionary new technology, and seeking to market to readers by calling it a book. Here is one example:

Editions at Play

I may even try Breathe, the free Ghost Story which is of course best "read" on my mobile device and will keep me entertained for a whole 20 minutes. Seriously, I may enjoy it. But I don't see it as a book, nor am I particularly attracted to it as a reader. I'll let you know if I change my mind after trying it.

Does anyone have any actual experience of using this type of product?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by tomfyhr

One of the reasons that pictures exists in children books at all is for, firstly, the child to relate to the characters on a visual level, and secondly serve as a point of reference so they do not have to struggle with imagining the characters in their head and can instead focus on the actual reading. From personal experience, I found it much easier to visualize and imagine the scenes in the novel as a child, when I already had a pre-existing image of how the character and scenery looked like.

And that concept of having pictures could be expanded upon to encompass all characters and scenes in a novel, especially in ebooks since publishing colored illustrations is not as expensive anymore since it is digital.

Are you just talking about illustrated books? You know they already exist, right? Go ahead and make one, but I suspect you'll find it's a niche market when you find out how much artists should be paid.

I thought you were talking about interactive multimedia "experiences", which are a very different thing.

[darryl]

And these interactive multimedia "experiences" are available now in a number of different formats. And can be implemented using current ebook standards, but seldom are. For good reason.