Interactive reading – the future of reading

The release of iPad and iBooks Store next month signals the new area for reading – interactive reading. Although reading on screen is nothing new (Google has been digitalising the world’s libraries since 2004) the publishing industry is ready to reinvent the book. The new platforms will allow readers to interact with one another in a social networks, travel books will let users send e-postcards, and kids will digitally paint-in their colouring books via the iPad’s touchscreen, among other things. “What was once a liner activity is an interactive experience. The iPad – it’s where the future is” says Anna Rafferty, the managing director of Penguin Digital.
Watch this video about the amazing new possibilities of interactive books of ‘iMagineering’ by Britain’s Penguin Books

Read more about interactive 3D books

Interactive books – the future of publishing now

There are at the moment four interactive book formats on the market. Here are the examples:
Slice
(free) Penguin’s wetellstories.co.uk plays with narrative forms and is a pointer to the sort of books apps to come. slice is made up of a blog by a young girl (in reality, novelist Toby Litt), with councurrent entries by her parents as well as messages on Twitter. Be sure to click on them in the right order.
Fighting Fantasy (£1.79 each) These role-playing books, first published in 1982, are being turned into iPhone apps. The gameplay is unaltered: construct a character by rolling dice, then pick your way through a quest, turn by turn. Search for Fighting Fantasy in the iTunes App Store.
Dr Seuss’ ABC (£1.79) The 1963 chldren’s primer is also an iPhone app. Listen to the narration as the text light up. The American accent grates, however – especially when you come to the letter ‘zee’.
The Death of Bunny Munro (£9.99) Move over, audiobooks – here’s the videobook. This iPhone features footage of Nick Cave, the musician and author, reading his story aloud, complete with mood-setting music. But at nearly 1GB in size, you might need to delete some of his albums to make room for it. Try a free taster of The Death of Bunny Munro as the iPhone app