Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Enhanced Digital Picture Books

Even if you don’t write children’s chapter books, Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg’s article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday was interesting. Barnes and Noble is “launching a digital collection of more than 12,000 books under the name Nook Kids.”

Barnes and Noble is trying to reinvent itself as the leader in digital e-books for kids. To do so, it has “earmarked an estimated $140 million for new digital efforts through April 30, 2011.” Now you may be wondering how a kids’ picture or chapter book would be a big seller on the Nook. The books would be enhanced. Kids could tap a button and have the book read to them. There will be interactive features, like making things drop from the sky onscreen or tap and pop balloons on the screen.

For those of you with iPads, for which Barnes and Noble will have an app, this will work. For those of you with a Nook? You’ll probably have to buy the new color touch-screen Nook, which is expected to be announced as soon as today at an event where Barnes and Noble plans to unveil the new Nook.

17 comments:

  1. Every one is trying to dominate the ebook market. Let's hope it will bring new innovation for self-publishing authors.

    My Darcy Mutates

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  2. I bet they'll sell like hotcakes. With the now inherant "techno-gene" all kids seem to be born with, it's gotta become very popular with the youngsters.

    Marvin D Wilson

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  3. An ap for the iPad doesn't surprise me!

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  4. I wouldn't be surprised to hear there were millions of apps already for the iPad.

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  5. It's amazing to me how fast things are changing.
    *thinks she just said something that pegs her as being really old*

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  6. You can also download an ereader app for you computer at home from B&N. This is not anything new for them.

    The new color nook with faster download and page-turning speeds and the full touch screen, however, is. And, based on what I've seen from people, that's the way they should have gone from the beginning (though the "e-ink" was nice in that non-glare sort of way).

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  7. Laura, I don't think it marks you as old. You could be twenty and astounded by the changes!

    MJenks, I think you're right. I think they envisioned it only as an electronic book, but missed seeing the future possibilities. My guess is they won't make that mistake again.

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  8. I know it’s the wave of the future, but I hope my grandson sticks to the old fashioned picture books as long as possible.

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  9. Gosh, every day I read about some new technology related to books.

    Mm, I hope children still get the chance to hold books in their hands. There is nothing like seeing a child curled up reading.

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  10. They'll still be curled up reading - but on an iPad or Kindle. What was the old movie flop? Smell-o-rama? Maybe there will be a book smell app.

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  11. Soon the lines between reading a book and watching a video will vanish.

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  12. If it becomes totally video, it will be hard to call it a book. The book will have become a video the way a script becomes a movie.

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  13. There are new exciting advances every day but I think it will be a long time before children's books become totally video.

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  14. Wow. It is due to the constant changing of technology that makes me want to stay even further away from eReaders. The innovation is good, but this just means to have one more technological piece a person would need to consider updating. I do, however, agree with the first commenter that I hope this paves the way for more self-pubs.

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  15. This could be a mistake for B&N. They haven’t had much success competing with the Kindle on eBook sales, and now they’re updating the Nook to compete with the Ipad and the countless other tables coming out soon. Targeting it toward kids is a good idea, but show me a kid with an I-anything and their playing games on it, not reading.

    They should keep the Nook as dedicated ereader, they wouldn’t be able to compete with the other big name multimedia devices out there.

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  16. Good point, Chris. At this point, it hard to compete with the iPad, except on cost. So far, iPad is staying a step ahead of the competition when it comes to color, apps, and multi-uses.

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  17. I know that this is the growing trend, but having these kinds of interactive kids books make me worried that the good old "reading a book to your child" will be a decreasing thing, and that the kid will be a self contained unit to learn for itself. The idea sounds impressive, but I'd be concerned at the implications too.

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