The failure of enhanced illustrated ebooks is expected by many in the publishing industry (Digital Book World, 2014). This could be due to the fact that, like print books, ebooks still follow a generally narrative structure (Hall, 2013, p.199), but don’t offer the physicality of a print version. This is particularly desirable for consumers purchasing books with highly illustrated content.
The fact that publishers have not yet significantly expanded with illustrated ebooks can no longer be attributed to a lack of devices with the ability to deliver content efficiently (Shatzkin, 2012, cited in Jones, 2012). The growth of the tablet and related publishing software has created opportunities for publishers to create stunning visual material for high resolution screens (Hall, 2013, p.120).
At the 2011 London Book Fair, Evan Schnittman vice president of Hachette Book Group declared that enhanced ebooks are ‘essentially dead’ and a ‘non-starter’ for publishers (Costanzo, 2014). What’s more, there were no conference papers scheduled on this topic for Book Expo American 2014.
One of the main contributing factors to the lack of uptake of enhanced ebooks is that publishers aren’t delivering consistent enhanced products across all digital platforms. However, according to one Japanese publisher speaking at Book Expo this year, EPUB3 will provide the solution (Costanzo, 2014). EPUB3 will allow publishers to overcome the challenges that they have faced for years, including fragmentation across formats and devices to address the issues of device incompatibility (Marjurey, 2012, cited in Timbrell, 2014). Yet the fact that ereaders have to be upgraded to read these new formats (Digital Publishing 101, no date) should be considered when realising the potential of the new e-book standard.
If enhanced illustrated ebooks are to succeed in the marketplace, there are factors that publishers must address. The multimedia add-ons musn’t distract from the text, and the business models must be viable (Cameron, 2014).
The term ‘enhanced ebook’ may not be used for much longer as the concept of the book will progress far beyond an ebook featuring various add-ons (Hall, 2013, p.199). It remains to be seen whether the release of EPUB3 will provide significant opportunities for publishers of enhanced illustrated content, yet publishers should not be too quick to disregard enhanced ebooks in the face of other book formats. Enhancing ebooks increases the reading market for everyone, without cannibalising existing revenue streams (Cameron, 2014).
Nonetheless how we read remains much the same as it did 2,000 years ago. Few publishers have managed to enhance works of fiction meaningfully so far (J.J, Gadd, 2014, cited in Cameron, 2014) which leaves open great scope for the development of enhanced ebooks. I believe that there is a lot of potential to improve readers’ engagement with multi-media features, whilst maintaining the traditional reading experience of the illustrated book.
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Reference List:
Bacon, B. (2014). Some Differences Between Ebooks, Enhanced Ebooks, And Apps. Digital Book World. Available at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/some-differences-between-ebooks-enhanced-ebooks-and-apps/ (Accessed 25 November 2014).
Cameron, P. (2014). Resuscitating Enhanced Ebooks. Digital Book World. Available at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/resuscitating-enhanced-ebooks/ (Accessed 25 October 2014).
Costanzo, P. (2014). The Real Reason Enhanced Ebooks Haven’t Taken Off (Or, Evan Schnittman Was Right… For the Most Part). Digital Book World. Available at: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/the-real-reason-enhanced-ebooks-havent-taken-off-or-evan-schnittman-was-right-for-the-most-part/ (Accessed 17 November 2014).
Digital Book World. (2014). EPUB3 Key to Growing Illustrated Ebooks Internationally? Digital Book World. Available at: nnhttp://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/epub3-key-to-growing-illustrated-ebooks-internationally/ (Accessed 17 November 2014).
Digital Publishing 101 (no date). How to produce illustrated, multimedia books. Available at: http://digitalpublishing101.com/how-to-produce-illustrated-multimedia-ebooks/ (Accessed 30 October 2014).
Hall, F. (2013). The Business of Digital Publishing. Oxford: Routledge.
Jones, P. (2014). The illustrated debate. The Bookseller, 5540, pp.3-3. Business Source Complete [Online]. Available at: http://thebookseller.com/blogs/illustrated-debate (Accessed 17 November 2014).
Timbrell, N. (2014) ‘Devices, Formats and Standards’ [Powerpoint Presentation]. U65025: Publishing in the Digital Age. Available at:https://moodle.brookes.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/491264/mod_resource/content/4/U65025Lecture22014.pdf (Accessed 30 October 2014).