Ever since the ebook production was started there has never been a respite! Year 2011 was no different and was certainly a learning curve for all of us. New technology, improved devices, innovative marketing strategies and a constant aspiration for churning out the best was the tone of the year.
No doubt we could come out with the best works in epub production. The later half of the year saw new technology introduced with read aloud books, fixed layout epubs which enhanced the reading experience making the ebooks exciting and inviting.
With a never-say-no attitude and great enthusiasm the team struck to its task in delivering more and more innovative epubs which would match the best in the bookstores. Also it paved the way for future trends and enabled exploring in areas which were unfamiliar until now.
Here is a list of our some of our achievements.
Skinny Books
Some fixed layout and animated books for Rand Media Co in all formats. The book had several frames with stick figures which were animated to give it more life.
Consitently Straight Shots, New Word City, Inc.
A good example of how learning can be a different experience. Videos of golfing shots were included in the book to give a new dimension to reading.
Mnemonics for 1600 Chinese simplified Characters
These included Chinese to English and French to Chinese translations for some words with graphics and Unicode fonts. Another handy guide for instant language reference.
Spanish in Suitcase
Another language learning ebook with audios included for listening to translations in Spanish at the touch of a button.
When words start speaking
Few of the read aloud ebooks which made book reading even more interesting, especially for children
Too Many Visitors
Train of Thoughts
Santa Claus Alarm
Do it right rhymes
Just like the book
2011 also witnessed some challenging fixed layout books with innovative layouts and brilliant designs.
Peter Excellence series
Stonyfield cook books
Brainmints series
They all came
Many ebooks were produced for well known publishers like TED, Korn/Ferry International, NAP Editions, New Word City, Inc, OutskirtsPress
Enter Interactivity
Another feather in the cap were producing some enhanced ebooks which features some javascript functionality to provide user interactivity.
Naughy Manya’s Day at the Zoo– epub with user interaction and audio narration
Iti’s Dream– epub with user interaction and read aloud features
Rajasthan – epub with geolocation
Back home
We also completed an epub conversion for an Indian Publisher – Manashakti, Lonavla
Emotional world of the Fetus
Up for sale!
2011 also allowed us to understand how the bookstores function and requirements. We could upload many ebooks for various clients directly to their accounts on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Nobles, Sony Reader, Kobo along with aggregators like Lulu
2012 – Pandora’s box
With the introduction of epub 3.0 and KF8, HTML5 is the in-thing and so is creativity! We can expect more and more enhancements and interactivity in the epubs which would make the content lively and interesting.
As new devices and software will be introduced, testing them for optimum results will be a major challenge. Understanding software/reader limitations and suggesting workarounds will be the need of the hour.
It will only bring out a creative output to please the end reader only to ask for more.
We are ready for the battle and hope to end the year with finesse.
Happy eReading!
