Comments on: Embedded video to liven up HarperCollins e-book original http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/embedded-video-to-liven-up-harpercollins-e-book-original/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:33:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/embedded-video-to-liven-up-harpercollins-e-book-original/comment-page-1/#comment-504594 David Rothman Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:34:25 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6990#comment-504594 Theresa re vidbook: Big thanks for the informative and thoughtful answer. The HarperCollins site <a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061474248/Lady_Amelias_Secret_Lover/index.aspx" rel="nofollow">says:</a> "Available E-Book Formats: Microsoft Reader." So it's interesting to learn that DNAML's format will be used to allow viewing of the videos with the text. Yes, that's an ingenious viral distribution model for the format. Thanks for the info. In this case I can understand the use of the special format. Best of luck with the experiment. For people who want to know more about DNAML-related things, go <a href="http://www.desktopauthor.com/" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Reader is downloadable <a href="http://digitalwebbooks.com/reader" rel="nofollow">here</a>. David Theresa re vidbook: Big thanks for the informative and thoughtful answer. The HarperCollins site says: “Available E-Book Formats: Microsoft Reader.” So it’s interesting to learn that DNAML’s format will be used to allow viewing of the videos with the text. Yes, that’s an ingenious viral distribution model for the format. Thanks for the info. In this case I can understand the use of the special format. Best of luck with the experiment. For people who want to know more about DNAML-related things, go here. Reader is downloadable here. David

]]> By: Theresa Horner http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/embedded-video-to-liven-up-harpercollins-e-book-original/comment-page-1/#comment-504538 Theresa Horner Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:12:38 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6990#comment-504538 David, you raise a good point about videos in e-books. It is important to make sure the author’s message is not diluted and that the reading experience is not sublimated by video. With Victoria Alexander’s Lady Amelia’s Secret Lover we kept the videos short and believe we have maintained the flow of the reading experience. Of course not every book and/or author is designed for this type of video treatment or even for this type of product. In this particular instance the author was looking to have some fun with her readers and with the content. We felt this was a fun way to bring the author closer to her readers and I think we succeeded. In future projects we will experiment with the placement, length and structure of the videos to keep the text dominant. As for the technology, we did not use the Microsoft Reader. We used the DNL Reader created by DNAML. It allowed us to easily embed video content and to create a viral distribution model which doesn’t rely on a storefront to purchase the content. The “buy” experience is contained within the book. We didn’t really intend for this product to be readable on all manner of portable devices but ideally we will move in that direction. Walk before you run… David, you raise a good point about videos in e-books.

It is important to make sure the author’s message is not diluted and that the reading experience is not sublimated by video. With Victoria Alexander’s Lady Amelia’s Secret Lover we kept the videos short and believe we have maintained the flow of the reading experience.

Of course not every book and/or author is designed for this type of video treatment or even for this type of product. In this particular instance the author was looking to have some fun with her readers and with the content. We felt this was a fun way to bring the author closer to her readers and I think we succeeded.

In future projects we will experiment with the placement, length and structure of the videos to keep the text dominant.

As for the technology, we did not use the Microsoft Reader. We used the DNL Reader created by DNAML. It allowed us to easily embed video content and to create a viral distribution model which doesn’t rely on a storefront to purchase the content. The “buy” experience is contained within the book. We didn’t really intend for this product to be readable on all manner of portable devices but ideally we will move in that direction.

Walk before you run…

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