From author Sariah Wilson:
“I have this project, but I can’t give you any details yet. Do you think you might be interested?”
Um, yes. If Amazon asks, my answer is most likely always going to be yes (I think they are the best people to be in a partnership with). Over a year ago this was how my editor at Montlake approached me. He said he would tell me more when he could and that period of time kept stretching and stretching until he finally sort of told me what it was about. It would be a new type of technology. It would be like having movie clips or GIFs inside my story.
. . . .
My editor wanted me to write a novella about a heroine who goes out with different men but is falling in love with one in particular. We batted some ideas around and I settled on the story that is currently the basis for ROYAL DESIGN.
I actually wrote this book pretty quickly. In about four days. I thought about it for a long time, outlined it, and then it all came together. Brevity is not my strong point, but I’d written a novella just prior to this (my very first time), which made it easier the second time (although it was a stretch to stay under the word limit).
Then the really fun part of this project started. I got on the phone with the director/producer, and this was her first time getting to film something like this for Amazon and to say we were both like giddy fangirls is underselling our level of excitement. She loved my characters the same way that I did. She asked how involved I wanted to be, and my answer was a lot, and so it began. (I actually got teased when they would send me something, because I would immediately go over it and read every part of it so that when we got on a conference call I had already practically memorized it).
I wrote up a character list, describing all of the characters physically. My favorite part was the celebrity comparisons (I imagined Enzo as a young Joe Manganiello crossed with Ryan Guzman and Bellamy as a Kristin Kreuk type, and Gray Porter as a lost Hemsworth brother). These bios were sent over to an agency, and we were sent back a massive document with all these different shots of various candidates (we were choosing one girl and four guys). Lots of expressions and poses for us to look over.
Link to the rest at Sariah Wilson
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I rise in strong opposition to your assertion with regards to streamlining, USAF. I tink it is the sheer expanse of something like a Ford Galaxie, where you are surrounded by Detroit steel, YARDS away from any possible collision. Big enough to lay down and sleep across the seats, a trunk to carry a good half-dozen former mafiosi or all the golf clubs plus your foursome, THAT is what makes 60s cars rad to me.
As to the enhancement of books, count me not very interested, except for the map, though even that would get old fast, unless it fit the story (Alvin Coox wrote a tome about the battle of Nomonhan that cries out for a series of maps, or better yet, an animated map showing what happened as you read along). Although, once you go that far, you might as well make it a movie.
And that’s the problem with enhanced books for me. By the time you give me all the info I wanted, you are WAY beyond and far away from the book. It sounded like a cool idea when Hypercard was invented, to publish the text with all the links to connect to the story, but where is my library on Hypercard today?
Maybe Beelzebezos can make it work, but KIM sounds to me like a solution in search of a problem. Anyway, good luck, Sariah, and best wishes for enhanced sales.
I see KIM as an extension of an existing niche market, not necessarily an attempt to create a new one from scratch.
Think of KIM books as an evolution of illustrated books, a niche that resides about halfway between comics and pure prose books and is a descendant of the medieval illuminated texts like THE BOOK OF KELLS.
It is exactly the kind of experiment that Amazon should be trying now that it is the unquestioned industry leader; a way to take ebooks into markets other than pure text recreational reading.
One thing to consider is that, while the Format is called Kindle in motion, motion is not necessarily required or even the biggest benefit.
Check the screenshots here:
http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/08/13/kindle-motion-good-bad-ugly-amazons-new-enhanced-format-screenshots/
I may be a bit more open to the idea than other ebook readers because back in the day I bought a few of the BYRON PREISS illustrated editions (the Illustrated Roger Zelazny, the Illustrated THE STARS MY DESTINATION, etc) as well as occasional lightly illustrated books like Larry Niven’s THE MAGIC GOES AWAY with gorgeous Esteban Maroto and Boris Vallejo art and Gordon Dickson’s HOME FROM THE SHORE. The idea of illustrations adding value to a text isn’t totally alien to me, although admitedly I’ve been reading comics since I was (blush) five. The middle ground is familiar territory to me.
I had a book where I really, REALLY wanted to add an animated map (as a GIF file) showing the change of Chinese dynasties and their ebb and flow across the landscape. This would have been a perfect thing to add value to my book, IMHO.
I built the ebook and tested it out as an epub and mobi file. It worked fine in ALL my (local) viewers, including my iphone & ipad, but I had no guarantee it would still work if published. At the time, Apple, Amazon and B&N explicitly stated that animated GIFs were NOT supported.
There certainly are places, IMHO again, where animation would clearly enhance and contribute to the work, especially in non-fiction, but I can imagine it working for fiction, too.
that’s a cool example of where this could add to the experience!
Animated gifs as chapter header art wouldn’t disrupt immersion and might add some fun details.
It’s not as illustrated books haven’t been around for ages so adding a bit of motion to illustrations shouldn’t be all that shocking. The main problem is most past attempts have priced themselves out of the market trying to charge extra for the enhancements.
I have a few vintage editions of classic books that are lightly and even heavily illustrated that I happily paid a modest premium for. I would not have paid 2-3x, though, not even for Gray Morrow art.
https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Roger-Zelazny/dp/B0016TTY38
Like so many things, it’s worth looking into if the price is right.
I commissioned original art for some of my chapter headings in one of my books. If that moved a bit I would find it fun!
I agree. I don’t see why a few animation SHOULD impact the price of a book, but I haven’t looked closely at Kindle In Motion (yet). Plan to do so soon.
Some animated GIFs would be nice so long as they didn’t loop incessantly. They drive me crazy on Twitter. 🙁
Ah yeah, this sounds cool! I hope KIM lets you do this.
I like the idea for non fiction, and also
dig your idea for a ‘changing map’ … what a cool idea JM Brown.
I could see lots of possibilities, but also I dontwant other s going on when Im reading. Like Springsteen said at a concert I attended, ‘you guys have to stop with the broooooce brooooce bs and also stop with the clapping bs; I already have a tenuous sense of rhythm, so be quiet.’
I also loathe children’s books that have representational drawings of contemporary actual people, realism overworked, in them, that then define for the reader what the characters are supposed to look like, instead of allowing the reader to imagine their own magnificent or malevolent creature. If I want real-real people, I’ll take the greyhound down off the mountain, plenty of stories in just under an hour that are pure and fresh and compelling.
Tom Cruise is NOT my idea of any character in a well written work. I dont want to be told what to see. If a movie of a book is madelikemany made using my friend’s work,clive cussler, then I can decide to see it or not. But I dont want to read a book and be forced to music I dont dig, or pictures, images or film clips that interfere w my imagination, which is part of the pleasure of reading.
The rad trucks and cars of the 1960s were so, not because they were fancy, but because they were ultra streamlined. The elegance of their bones showed through.
just my .02
Enhanced ebooks they were as early as 2012. For some reason I think Follett Pillars of the Earth is one of the books that was given the enhanced treatment.
I’m feeling a bit dubious about narrative books with enhancements, although I would quite likely buy a nonfiction book with additional information. Not that I wouldn’t try one with some persuasion. Maybe Amazon will do a special to introduce readers. I think one of the problems with the earliers was that they were very expensive.
Enhanced ebooks (of several kinds) were tried a couple decades back, in the MultiMedia PC era and some were totally awesome…
…and failed to sell.
Things might have changed but it’s not a given.
Worth a try, nonetheless.
It sounds interesting but I don’t think it would be for me either. I don’t like background music or anything for that matter when I read or write. But I’m sure some will like it.
I remember when the enhanced ebooks idea started making the rounds. I was excited because I immediately imagined having music playing along as the background to my stories – I always write to music so some pieces feel integral to the story. Then I discovered that not everyone likes listening to music while they read.
Even more devastating was the realisation that not everyone likes the same music that I like. Sci-fi and Two Steps From Hell may go together like bacon and eggs in my head, but… 🙁
That said, I think enhanced ebooks will become standard at some time in the future, just as audible books have become commonplace now. Readers will choose whichever format appeals to them, and they will buy more books. I think that’s a win-win long term.
Don’t forget the enormous cost of licensing music. A friend of a friend paid over $20,000 to license one song for a short film that was only ever shown at a few film festivals.
(There’s a reason that just about any sane indie movie producer I worked with found someone to create original music for their movie)
Two Steps From Hell create ‘trailer music’ so not quite as expensive [I think] as licensing a well-known song, but still, your point is valid. I’d probably do better simply giving away one of their albums with every ebook… -joking-
My point, though, was that things change. Who would have thought that any of us would be producing audible books much less ebooks?
Enhanced e-books and certain flavors of non-fiction go together like hand and glove.
As far as fiction, I can’t really say if I’d be interested. I mean I like maps (fantasy and sci-fi) and a simple diagram can go along way to help make clear the route a special ops team takes as it makes a coordinated move through a facility.
I’ll give it a try. It’s not an either/or its an addition to.
Totally agree.
Sci-fi and Two Steps From Hell may go together like bacon and eggs in my head, but…
No, no — you are correct about that combo! Seriously, I’ve been getting into that group 🙂 I use that kind of music when I’m writing fight scenes in particular. I also love the comments that go with these songs on YouTube: “I listened to this before talking to my boss. I fired him! … My neighbor called the police on me for playing this song too loud and he got arrested!”
… but in the end I’d probably just reserve such songs for book trailers, if I ever made one. Especially on account of the licensing.
I think as a fantasy/sci-fi fan though, I’d really just like illustrations. Sometimes it’s because the descriptions are vague, like Kevin C’s special ops scenario. And sometimes it’s just because the thing being described sounds cool, like the “speak, friend, and enter” door in Fellowship of the Ring. I only know of one indie taking advantage of the freedom to include illustrations and I wish more would.
Oh My God?!? I thought that reference to TSFH would go down like a lead balloon. Hail fellow well met. 😀
If you enjoy writing to their music, you might also want to try a couple more of the trailer music composers:
Jo Blankenburg
Roger Subirana
and some of Audiomachine
As for illustrations, yes…-sigh-… Unfortunately, the Kindle still isn’t all that great for graphics. I’d love to be able to include maps and a bestiary type thing as well. Maybe one day. 🙂
I’m hesitating to say anything, because I have professional admiration for Sariah, and I always enjoy Allen F’s comments on The Passive Voice – but Sariah’s response did strike me as a little tetchy…
I agree with Veronica’s point, but as a general rule, I think we should all try not to be too sensitive to possible slurs.
Passionate defense of your work and ideas isn’t tetchy. There were no personal attacks, nothing different than happens here twenty times a day. Telling someone to ‘calm down’ is never a legitimate response. Seriously, how many times in your life has that line actually restored calm
Her response came across as “hot” to me, not tetchy.
Moving pictures in ebooks; wasn’t that one of those ‘value added’ things the publishers thought up to raise the bar and make it harder for indies to compete?
And as then, unless it adds rather than distracts to the reading the story, is it of any real use?
How do you know it detracts from the story? Have you read a Kindle in Motion book? And just because you may not like it, do you think you speak for every reader everywhere? Is there no possibility that there may be people who absolutely love this tech and enjoy it? Yes, it has real use. Yes, it can add to the story. I’ve read several Kindle in Motion books (including seeing my own finished one) and I like the added feature. I don’t find it detracts from the story at all, but rather adds to it.
As for indies competing, everybody is acting like this is some kind of plot cooked up by Amazon to keep indies out. Just like when Amazon made sure that indies couldn’t produce audio books to compete with publishers. Oh wait, they have ACX that allows indies to create their own version of audio books.
I think if readers respond to this tech and enjoy it, Amazon will find a way to let indies get in on the game. They always have in the past.
Do please calm down.
That was ‘not’ what I said.
I said:
“And as then, [unless] it adds rather than distracts to the reading the story, is it of any real use?
This same ‘idea’ was being tooted a year (two years?) ago and there were comments on these very pages about it.
And it wasn’t Amazon suggesting it at the time, it being Amazon suggesting it now doesn’t change anything.
I’ll go now and see if I can find those past posts for you.
Ah, silly me. If you’ll click on ‘Enhanced Ebooks’ over on the right hand pane you (and others) can read them yourself.
A Boost for Enhanced E-books
18 February 2015
Comments (38)
From Publishers Weekly:
For the first three weeks of the new year, the enhanced edition of Chris Kyle’s memoir, American Sniper, led Apple’s iBooks bestseller list, consistently landing several spots above the title’s standard e-book. Its hot streak was a rare victory for enhanced e-books (especially over their unenhanced counterparts). On the whole, sales of enhanced e-books have fallen short of expectations since publishers began investing in the format, which incorporates video and other interactive features, roughly five years ago.
Is one …
I am perfectly calm, thanks. And thank you for immediately reverting to your typical condescending and casually sexist attitude. (If I were a man, I have a hard time imagining that you would have instructed me to calm down simply for expressing an opinion and calling yours into question.)
This is not an “enhanced” book. This is different than what previously enhanced books have been, and I have neither the time nor care enough to explain to you the difference. And your snippet has nothing to do with what’s being discussed, and is totally irrelevant to your initial statement.
I wasn’t even going to bother responding to you as I avoid reading your comments on this site. So I’m going to go back to that policy and am finished feeding the troll.
From your book page:
“Kindle in Motion books include art, animation, or video features that can be viewed on certain Fire tablets and the free Kindle app for iOS and Android.”
This sounds to me exactly like an enhanced ebook. The definition at this point is varied and fluid, because so many things have been suggested and, since there are few enhanced ebooks available, there is no standard. Usually, I’ve seen music as one of the things that might make an ebook enhanced. I’d have to guess there’s a soundtrack to your videos.
I can understand your excitement and there may be readers who love this kind of media. But as for me, I prefer to let the text play movies in my mind and have my own vision of what the characters look like, etc.
Hate to burst your ‘sexist’ bubble, but I’ve been known to tell guys that over the phone when they’re screaming about their server being down and their business has stopped because no one can get any work done.
Ah, yes, anyone disagreeing with you must be a ‘troll’ too. Yup, okay. It does suggest you either didn’t read the comments of the example I included or didn’t like what it had to say.
I’m sure others are now wondering if it’s ‘safe’ to say ‘anything’ you may not like at this point.
Allen, “do please calm down” felt out of place to me as well.
I didn’t reply earlier because I was:
“wondering if it’s ‘safe’ to say ‘anything’ you may not like at this point.”
I typically do enjoy your commentary.
It was originally after I pointed out what she claimed I’d said the first time:
“And it wasn’t Amazon suggesting it at the time,” so please calm down.
Maybe it would have read better to you (and to her) if I’d left it there instead of moving it to the first line …
As a woman, men have said this to me in person when I’m perfectly calm, when I’m just making a point or standing up for a position.
It’s frequently used toward women in a dismissive manner; a way of saying “shut up” and minimizing the woman’s input. A variation on, “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that.”
(yeah, it really is, even if you have never used it that way. It’s really common)
Online, with no way to know what the other party’s emotional state is, “calm down” is a phrase I would avoid.
to lead with that command is sexist and condescending.
They’re right.
I could give the benefit of the doubt about sexist (although it is a very common way of dismissing women), but it was pretty condescending.
Sariah is excited because Amazon is trying out a new type of enhanced ebook that is built around a more subtle way of affecting readers than “HERE’S A VIDEO FILE OF THE THING I JUST SAID!” And they asked her if she wanted to be involved. It’s something that’s almost certainly worth trying, because innovation is how you come up with cool new things.
Your comment didn’t show any kind of consideration of the actual case at hand. Just “water is wet. Is this water any different from water I’ve had before?”
It’s not witty to point to past failures and it’s not necessarily insightful to say “other people doing vaguely similar things in different ways didn’t succeed.”
This is an interesting new features that’s entirely optional at the same competitive prices Amazon’s already offering for their books. It might be a special new way for readers to read certain books, and it can be turned off for anyone who doesn’t appreciate it for any multitude of good reasons.
Don’t be a crab at the bottom of a bucket.
Dude, I’m not the most sensitive guy and even I can tell your being sexists. I read comments all the time and in the last three months I’ve never seen you tell anyone to calm down. You made a mistake, own it, apologies and move on. It’s not like it will kill you.
I made a mistake. And no, I don’t normally suggest people calm down, but then again I’m not often counterattacked quite so vigorously for merely pointing out something’s been suggested/tried and then ignored by the general public before.
(And I guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t channeling what my grandmother had told my grandfather as the flames from her stove-top fire licked the ceiling! I was nine or ten before I knew what ‘don’t get your panties in a bunch’ meant.)
I see below you defended her rather ‘passionate defense’ of her work, it’s good to see she has you for a defender.
For what it’s worth Alan, I agree with you.
The mentality that anyone who disagrees with you is automatically sexist, or a troll, or both is not only counter-productive to civil discourse, but it’s also a way of dismissing an opponent without having to actually listen to their views because No one wants to listen to a sexist troll.
My own fault. I sometimes forget the politically correct world we’re supposedly now living in for something I should have left back in the seventy’s. (And if I’d been trying for ‘sexist troll’ I know I could have done a much better job of it.)
And on this site we never ever burst bubbles or warn that dreams don’t always come true. Let them have their dreams, even if we can see a stumbling block/trap they may have missed in their rush to happiness.
As to what got all this started, whether Amazon really has a new twist on the old ‘Book-plus-stuff’ idea remains to be seen — as does whether the readers will find it appealing or just a bother.
Politically correct? How about just being decent and respectful of others? This isn’t the first post of yours that has sexist overtones — even outright sexism — and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
But, yeah. Pull out the old PC argument, because being a civilized person has to be forced on some people.
Yes, politically correct. Would you have tried to claim I was being sexist if the name you saw had said ‘Ellen F’?
Sexism is like porn, it’s in the eyes of the beholder. (Maybe I should get upset with the one that started theirs with ‘dude’?)
I know you won’t believe it, but I’ve never cared which way the plumbing went, just what they say and how well they say it. (Never mind pen names meaning you never know who you’re really talking to/about.)
(I know he was too late as the jury of my ‘peers’ had spoken and the verdict was in, but I did like USAF pointing out that our 911 services must — by your (and others) definition — be trained to be ‘sexist trolls’ and that you were so busy counterattacking you never bothered to answer the questions I raised.)
@Sheila I understand not liking the phrase, and yes there are people who use it to dismiss women, but there isn’t anything inherently sexist about it. Allan F has a good point that if his name was Ellen no one would have jumped on him.
We have a lot of people in these comments who more focused on the issues being talked about than the personalities behind the comments, and Allan has always struck me as one of those people. Maybe it comes across as sexist to you, but I encourage you to keep in mind that he, and many others in these comments, don’t change the way they communicate based on the presumed gender of the people they are talking with.
In this case, I would agree that the response he got could best be referred to as political correctness. The “decent and respectful of others” response would have been something along the lines of “fyi, that phrase can come across as sexist to a lot of women, and here’s my response to the questions you raised”, not “you are bad and you should feel bad”, which is what he got.
just to clarify: It appears a matter of a question mark.
I read Allen’s first comment as a question. “Moving pictures in ebooks; wasn’t that one of those ‘value added’ things the publishers thought up to raise the bar and make it harder for indies to compete?”
See that question mark there?
Then comes the operative word in his comment “Unless”.
“And as then, unless it adds rather than distracts to the reading the story, is it of any real use?”
With another question asked. See that question mark there?
I read the author’s response asnot to answer two questions.
It is baffling to me what was said in response. To not know the authors’ answers to his questions.
Who is a sexist, attacker of others, is side car. The first trips ups come. in my useless opine, from author not responding to two questions.
In the end not sure I understand the article, it seems a ‘happy to be doing’ whatever it is that is being done. I guess I relate more to articles of how this can be done by others. Old school perhaps too much.
I dont know the author, but I ride with Allen alot here,
and he is a fine heart, and yes, like everyone else here, has thoughts. It’s an open forum. I imagine on another day the author and Allen might have a better exchange.
For me, the two questions Allen asked, without screed,
are still unanswered.
Oddly when people dont track questions asked by the dispatcher at 911 emergency calls, the first thing they say to the caller, is ‘Please clam down.’ This is so the dispatcher can find out more, clearly.
The animated images in the Harry Potter ebooks are kind of neat, but they don’t really add much.
It never stops being exciting when Passive Voice shares one of my blogs. 🙂
You’re welcome, Sariah. Thanks for the interesting post you wrote.