Enhanced eBooks

Penguin Young Readers Group has a new interactive eBook out based on the 2010 short film Marcel the Shell. We have embedded the short film, which was an Internet meme last year, above. Marcel, the talking shell with only one eye, is known for his shy but confident character who has shoes and a face and wears a lentil for a hat.

The eBook app Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Things About Me by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp and illustrated by artist Amy Lind will feature interactive elements including animations and audio tracks of Marcel reading. Penguin is also doing a print version of the book with a print run of 100,000 books.

The app, which is available on iTunes, is on sale for $6.99 until February 2012, when the price goes up to $9.99.

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Interactive Touch Demo from Ameen Saafir on Vimeo.

Want to make your book interactive? A new company called Interactive Touch has a free toolset that can help you turn your eBook into an interactive app with animation and sound effects.

The company just announced a new partnership with children’s book publisher Red Chair Press. Interactive Touch worked with the publisher to create a series of interactive kids books called the Funny Bone Readers’ series, six of which are currently available. The publisher ambitiously plans to release an additional 18 interactive titles before Christmas.

The above video demonstrates how the platform works.

Vook and the fitness and wellness publisher Gaiam announced yesterday that they had just released a total of 16 enhanced eBooks.

These titles, now available in iBooks and the Kindle Store, represent the first ebooks to be made as part Vook’s shift from being an ebook publisher to being a conversion service. The 16 titles all focus on one or another aspect of yoga, and 11 were produced with the help of the yoga guru, Rodney Yee.

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Author Don Campbell, who penned the bestselling The Mozart Effect, has a new enhanced eBook available from Hudson Street Press called Healing at the Speed of Sound.

The book, which is a collaboration with scientist Alex Doman, teaches readers how to meditate using sound and silence. Here is more from the release: “Sound. The click of keys on a typewriter . . . the buzz of cars outside your window . . . the “sound” of silence. Sound is everywhere, it is universal, and it one of the most powerful tools you have access to in your life. From your morning commute, to your workout mix, to the last sounds you hear as you fall asleep, sound can vastly impact your emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being—in both positive and negative ways.”

The enhanced eBook was released yesterday, the same day as a print edition of the book. It includes 70 links to audio recordings and videos from the authors and is available in iTunes for $12.99.

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A New York-based start up called Booktrack is introducing soundtracks in eBooks. The company is releasing its first “booktrack” in the enhanced eBook edition of a new young-adult novel from HarperCollins by Pittacus Lore called The Power of Six.

Booktrack also has eBook with soundtracks coming for versions of public domain titles including: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jane Eyre, Romeo and Juliet and The Three Musketeers.

Paul Cameron, Booktrack’s co-founder and chief executive told The New York Times: “It makes a new and engaging way to read and really enhances the experience and enhances your imagination and keeps you in the story longer. And it makes it fun to read again. If you’re not reading all the time, it might help you rediscover reading.”

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Cathedral Publishing, a company that makes multimedia publishing tools, has a new application available that lets authors sell songs from within an eBook. We caught up with the company’s co-founder John Balla to discuss how authors can turn eBooks into stores and how to figure out pricing for multimedia books.

EBN: How does ‘The Book is the Store’ app work?

JB: ‘The Book is the Store’ is a highly contextual e-commerce platform designed to give the reader the ideal product without disrupting the reading experience. These products are designed around the context of the book, and only presented when the option fits. Authors and publishers can offer premium products through affiliates like Clickbank.com or even Amazon in the absence of a proprietary storefront. But authors and publishers must be vigilant when considering affiliate options, ensuring that the product or service is truly providing added value, not just a quick way to make an extra buck. ‘ Read more

Digital publisher Vook is giving away free enhanced eBooks for Kindle. Free Vook titles in the Kindle store include: Western Civilization 101, American Revolution 101, Civil War 101, World War I 101 and Ancient Greece 101.

The books only work in the iOS apps, so this really only applies to Amazon apps.

The eBooks cost $1.99-4.99 in other eBook stores.

Vook is also offering a bunch of other titles for free as well, but they don’t have enhancements.

Via The Digital Reader.

To commemorate the wedding of William and Kate author Jane Green has a new enhanced eBook out from Hyperion/ABC Video Book called A Modern Fairy Tale.

The eBook tells the story of how the prince and soon-to-be princess met and fell in love. It also includes archival images and videos of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding, and of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s nuptials. The eBook is available in iBooks, Kindle and Nook stores.

Disney is also getting in on the royal action. Earlier this week, the company announced that it was upgrading its Princess Dress-Up: My Sticker Book app.

Last week Vook uploaded the first of its text only ebooks to the NookStore and Kindle Store. This is an unprecedented break from its past practices, and in fact goes against the very reason the company was founded.

Vook launched in late 2009 with a goal of making enhanced eBooks for the iPhone, and it has since expanded its markets to include the iPad and the Kindle Store. It makes both fiction Vooks and textvooks that contain embedded audio and video. Until now, that is.

Vook has uploaded 11 text only eBooks to the NookStore, and another 15 or so in the Kindle Store. Curiously enough, you can buy some of the enhanced Vooks in the Kindle Store for less than the text only versions.

Do you think this means that enhanced eBooks aren’t making Vook enough money? Perhaps there isn’t enough demand.

via Vook

James Glieck’s first novel, a national bestseller and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, has been re-released as an enhanced eBook.

Open Road Media has announced today that an enhanced edition of Chaos has been released in the Kindle Store and in iBooks. This new edition has videos narrated by the author and re-mastered illustrations. All in all, it has 7 videos and 60 images that have been adapted for full-color displays.

You can find a sample of the enhanced edition at  Amazon & iBooks, and a text only eBook edition is available in most eBookstores.

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