Something to consider

[A.L.]

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/12/201...

[Hannah]

What the heck is an "advanced ebook"?

[C.P.]

An enhanced ebook has elements besides text and pictures. For example, you tap on a link and get a slideshow of images or a video related to the topic under consideration. Apple's free iBooks Author program offers one relatively easy way to produce them, and for textbooks—especially art or science textbooks—they can be useful. Students reading Shakespeare's "Henry V" could segue off to a description of Agincourt before reading the next scene. Kids studying butterflies could watch a video of one emerging from its coccoon.

But for novels, the "extras" are (in my view) an annoying distraction. So the idea of enhanced ebooks that are not textbooks seems to be more a publisher's hope of how to establish a new market than anything readers actually want, as one of the commenters noted.

Thanks for the link, Alexandra. Interesting post.

[Nick]

Hannah wrote: "What the heck is an "advanced ebook"?"

A gimmick...

[Hannah]

Exactly, Nick! Oh, my word. I think I gave myself a heart attack there, Nick. Seventeen Magazine already have these "extras" and I do not know many college students who buy ebooks, because they are practically the same price as buying a textbook. It is the same thing with who wants to rent a textbook that almost costs the same as buying it. When you buy something, you can always sell it back. With ebooks? Not so much...Rather, not at all.