Got an email from Loreen Leedy who alerted me to a new site where published clildren’s authors are joining together to write about transitioning to digital books. It is eisforbook. Here is what the first post says:
We are a group of published children’s authors and illustrators who are interested in or are already creating digital books for kids. The premise of our name is that a book is a bookregardless of the format. With the option of interactivity within some formats, new creative possibilities are open to us. Our already-published books range from pre-school to Young Adult, so there should be something for almost everyone.How this blog will evolve is unpredictable, but here are a few of our potential topics:
- What is an ebook and what do we want it to be?
- Pros and cons of digital vs. traditional books
- Ebook formats
- Ereaders
- Ebookstore
- Spreading the word about our ebooks
- How we write, illustrate, and design for ebooks
- Software we use
- Changes in the book biz
- Collaborations
- Interviews with e-book makers
- Reviews
- Video trailers
- Reissuing out-of-print titles
- Interactivity vs. a reading-only ebook
- How are people using ebooks “in the wild”?
- Commentary on relevant articles
- Indie publishing
Personally, I’m intrigued about bringing my out-of-print titles back into digital form, such as my picture book about theater,The Bunny Play. My current theory is to totally rethink it, cut and paste portions of the art into new illustrations, maybe turn it into a chapter book…who knows! And, I’ve been scribbling concepts for various other new digital books into a notebook. The dilemma is which one to work on first?
This promises to be an exciting journey, so please join us and we can figure it out together!
