Blurb, the publishing platform, is releasing a new version of its ebook editor so that authors can add video and audio to create multi-dimensional stories for the iPad.
“We have effectively turned digital storytelling on its head,” said Eileen Gittins, CEO and Founder, Blurb.co.uk. “You’ll get the familiar structure and narrative of a book, plus the freedom to add multimedia to create a richer, non-linear storytelling experience.”
Blurb is designed to make book creation simple for people at all skill levels. The platform is set up so that users can create, share and sell both print and digital books.
With the addition of video and audio for iPad books, there are a lot of ways that users can get creative with their storytelling either fact or fiction. The idea of documentary making as a multimedia process could also find a place within an electronic ‘book’.
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“Contemporary storytelling like this embraces the way we live our lives today, capturing and consuming media in multiple formats, wherever we go. Plus it’s quick and easily shared with an audience,” Gittins continued.
Blurb’s ebooks are optimised to display images and text nicely, so that the works that are created turn out as the user designed it. Gittins says that this is of particular interest to children’s books, cookbooks or how-to guides where design and presentation are critical. Print books are also produced in high quality with professional standards of binding and paper.
With book distribution models seeing almost as much fragmentation as the music industry, Blurb also aims to give authors everything they need to share and sell their book easily. Users receive free promotional tools, can sell their books through the Blurb bookstore and ebook authors also get a little help working out how to submit their work to the Apple iBookstore for free.
Blurb was founded by Eileen Gittins in 2005. In 2011, the company shipped nearly 2 million books to 70 countries. Blurb is based in San Francisco with offices in London.
The idea and future of a ‘book’ is quite different to the days when Gutenberg was running his printing press. But as a bit of a renegade himself, it’s nice to think that he might appreciate the a format that is now so malleable when it comes to design and content.
Image Credit: Milestoned
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