Re: Apple publishing news

**D* G* <g*@gmail.com>**

I'm with Saxon on this one but have some reservations about how it's all
going to roll out.  The traditional garden "book" is pretty much dead when
it hits e-formatting.

You can see here where this magazine is taking theirs
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/a-peek-at-an-interactive-magazine-for-the-apple-ipad/#more-36029
Subsequent interviews with the editors of this online-mag have clarified the
costs for this are not significantly higher than the costs for their normal
editions.

But going this interactive and visual is really going to mess with any idea
that just "whomping" a book or magazine online is going to save money and
the publishing industry.  You may save money with printing - but not with
design and layout where your costs are going to skyrocket.

My conversations over the past month or so with some tech folks have
clarified for me that they can "wrap" any kind of content into an app for
online distribution.

So - certain kinds of information (like how-to books) will have to meet the
new bar of interactivity and included video (the days of
text/images/graphics are dead) and other formatting niceties such as
popups/lightboxes etc.  Other material (fiction) may very well be able to
get away with text-only.

But material aimed at the younger demographic is going to be visual - no
matter what the content (the Manga and Graphical Novel section of the local
bookstore is up to 12 full racks from 6 in the last year)

Initially - I suspect we'll see low-interactivity as material is rushed to
"print" but eventually the bar will be raised and higher and higher
interactivity will be required.  Or ... there will be several price points
established (as there are now) for different levels of interactive books.
Lots of options out there and it's a quicksand-world.  I just killed two
ebook projects that were going to kindle and e-pub readers - thinking about
them seriously now as apps but not sure about level of tech that will pay.
But as I said, I've talked to some designers and tech guys about doing this
stuff and the conversations are ongoing as we sort it all out.

We've also talked about doing magazines and catalogs in this kind of
interactive formatting - and how to deliver different kinds of information
to this format and size of computer.

As I've said before, "it ain't your grandma's publishing industry".  :-)

Doug

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 7:32 PM, Saxon Holt <sholt@saxonholt.com> wrote:

> Apple announced today it has added two publishers to provide content
> to the iPad:   Perseus Books Group and Workman which means Timber,
> Storey and Algonquin - all publishers dear to us garden writers (and
> photographers).
>
> I say yea!  Bring on the electronic distribution of traditional
> content providers
>
> http://mac.blorge.com/2010/03/23/apple-adds-2-ipad-book-publishers/
>
> Saxon
>
> Saxon Holt Photography
> - http://www.saxonholt.com
> 415-898-8880
>
-- 
Doug Green
Editor-in-Chief,
SGF Publishing
http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
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