Have you started reading eBooks yet? After a slow start many years ago, their sales are now outpacing traditional print books and e-readers are becoming commonplace. I find the idea and potential of an eBook fascinating, as it is changing the way we think about and read books. Multimedia and interactivity can now be a part of the reading experience, and even the publishing process is more approachable and requires a smaller up-front investment. From the beginning I had planned on releasing electronic versions of Kindle, Nook, and iPad. After working through the conversion process, I now realize ho much potential this format has to revolutionize the idea of a “book.” I found it exciting to see how the interactivity of Flight Emergency lent itself very well to the new technology, using links to navigate through the path the reader chooses in each scenario, or to backtrack and make a different decision, for example. I can imagine much more potential for the future as well.
Dan Poynter and his company Para Publishing LLC has always been at the forefront of the publishing industry. Now he is recognizing the quickly-growing world of eBooks in their very own awards contest. Other book award programs I’ve seen offer awards for eBooks as a sideline to print books, or do not offer different categories for eBooks as they do for print books. But in Dan Poynter’s Global eBook Awards, Flight Emergency and all other Nominated entries are competing against books in their own categories, as well as “best of” categories, such as cover and illustrations. In the coming weeks, judges will read all Nominated eBooks and select Finalists and Winners in each category.
With all the excitement eBooks offer, I must admit to remaining a traditionalist in some ways. For example, can an eBook simulate the old book smell, the feel of an old out-of-print book in your hands, or the fun and discovery of browsing the library’s basement stacks? Call me a book geek, but I will always enjoy reading a yellowed, musty vintage science fiction paperback with a price of $0.65 on the cover and cigarette advertisement inserts in the middle. eBooks won’t ever replace paper books for me—and I suspect many others—but they are expanding the world of reading and publishing books, attracting new readers, and allowing more authors to become published who may not have had the means before. It will be exciting to see the book evolve in the future.
…And wish me luck in the Global eBook Awards!