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eBooks of the Future

As old fashioned as a book might seem in todays world, the printed novel is still alive and well.  There is something about holding a good book in your hands, turning the pages and reading the text at your own pace while painting a picture of the story in your mind that cant be replicated.  Besides, we can all agree that the book is always better than the movie.  So in what way can we possibly improve on the book?

How about bringing the book into an online format.  Can a novel really be adapted for the Internet successfully?  More and more reading is being done online, and that doesnt just include the younger generation.  However, most web reading is skimming because of all the distractions in our media rich world.  That in mind, how do you create an online book format that can capture the attention of web users?

Nicola Furlong, a Canadian author, thinks she found the answer with her new web publishing format called Quillr.  This concept brings together text, video, audio and photos to create a new type of ebook that Furlong believes will resonate with the way we read today.

Furlongs latest novel, Here Ends the Beginning, is the first to be released using Quillr.  Here is what she had to say about her new book and technique: Here Ends the Beginning is much more than a conventional ebook.  The text is punctuated throughout with video clips and photographs of actors recreating the characters and scenes.  Music and sound effects further enhance this novel experience.

The first five chapters of the 43-chapter book are available for free.  To get the full story and experience (haha), it will cost you $12.95 CDN.

Im not so sure about this concept.  Isnt the purpose of reading a book to let your imagination run wild?  If you want someone else to tell the story for you as you read, watch a movie with subtitles.

I dont think books will ever die.  If they do move into the virtual world, I dont think they will outsell traditional hard copies.

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