This is an exciting day! My Read Aloud EPUB for iBooks Miniguide is now available in print from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is 48 pages long in full color and includes an index, and explains how to create fixed layout EPUB books with an accompanying audio track that plays while the corresponding text is highlighted. (Read Aloud EPUB for iBooks is also available in EPUB and PDF formats.)Read Aloud books—which currently work only in iBooks on iPhone/iPad/iPod touch—are perfect for children's story books, but don't stop there. Think about the possibilities of language instruction where your readers can see the words highlighted as the speaker pronounces them (and click on them to repeat as many times as necessary). Or perhaps you'd like to publish a play or poetry and include a dramatic reading. Imagine a travel book in which you can narrate the photographs.
This book teaches you how to create the audio, create and format the text, and then mark both the audio and text so that they play and are highlighted simultaneously. You'll also learn how to create stop and start buttons and a background soundtrack.
Here's what Pablo Defendini of Open Road Integrated Media had to say: “Just took a read through the Read Aloud guide—great job! Hits all the points, and it doesn't look like anything is missing. Also, great, great Grep recipes!”
Because this miniguide focuses so closely on just what you need to know for Read Aloud, some knowledge of EPUB in general and Fixed Layout books in particular is also required. To that end, you may also be interested in my EPUB Straight to the Point: Creating ebooks for the Apple iPad and other ereaders (available both in print and in digital editions) and my Fixed Layout EPUBs for iPad and iPhone (available only digital format, with print on its way).
I would also like to note that this is my first foray into publishing my own books in print and I'm really excited about it. Cookwood Press is just me, and thanks to InDesign and Print on Demand and Lightning Source and distribution, a one-woman operation like my own can now sell high quality full color print and digital books all over the world with very little initial investment or infrastructure (though a lot of experience in writing and publishing!). I am hoping it allows me to get more books out more quickly on a variety of topics.
One of my strategies is to write very short books that cover a very specific topic, and Read Aloud EPUB for iBooks is a perfect example. It is just 48 pages but covers everything you need to know. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave reviews wherever you buy it, even if it's just a couple of words.
Volume discounts are available. Please contact me directly.
By the way, that gorgeous cover with the hand-modeled 3D pencil was created by Andreu Cabré. You can see more of his work on his blog: Everything 3D. His demo reel is particularly impressive.
Congrats on the self publishing. Last weeks Economist magazine has a couple articles related to self publishing that were interesting. It was about how book publishing is going through similar changes that newspapers publish had a few years ago with the move towards electronic publishing and self publishing.
ReplyDeleteMy question is, what is the status or can you explain about technical possibilities available for simple animations in ePub, such as CSS animations?
Thanks.
"One of my strategies is to write very short books that cover a very specific topic..."
ReplyDeleteCool idea. The freedom of digital publishing vs. the rigid forms of traditional is so inspiring.