A New Kind of Book

I’m thrilled to announce the release of the “preview edition” of Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience (iBookstore, Amazon, O’Reilly). In this free download, I tackle one big-ticket question: how do we make digital books as satisfying as their print predecessors? I’ve studied hundreds of recent publishing experiments, comparing them all to what I’ve learned during a 20-plus year career as writer, editor, and publisher. My goal: distill best-practice principles and spotlight model examples. I want to help authors understand how to use the digital canvas to convey their best ideas, and how to do so in a reader-friendly way. As app book tinkering flourishes, and as ePub3 emerges as an equally rich alternative, the time felt right for a look at the difference between what can and what should be done in digital book-land. That’s my mission in Breaking the Page. The preview ... Read More

Will big touchscreen displays—bigger than tablets—usher in new kinds of creative composition? I don't hear much talk about Microsoft's Surface computers, those industrial strength touchscreens-on-a-tabletop. But maybe the idea was about $10,000 too expensive and a few years ahead of its time. Hear me out while I play connect-the-anecdata-points and argue that 10-inch tablets are just the start of the touchscreen publishing revolution. I'll bet that large, touchscreen canvases are coming, and I think they’re going to change the kinds of documents we create. But first a quick bit on why on earth we need larger compositional spaces. After all, any decent novelist, blogger, or journalist can get by with a 11-inch laptop, right? Sure, but what about creative types who like scattering notes, sketches, and outlines across their physical desktops? And what if they want to mix and match different kinds of media and incorporate touchscreen gestures? Some tools ... Read More

I’ve written previously about the distracting effects of excessive hyperlinks: how lots of “hey, click me" blue-lined text makes it hard to focus on a writer’s own writing. In this post I want to air out a design idea that accomodates links, but does so in a way that helps readers maintain focus and momentum. The example prompting this concept is similar to what you probably see online every day (click to enlarge): Are each of those time-consuming and attention-distracting links truly worth visiting? At a time when focus is a precious commodity, isn’t it odd how often digital documents place exit ramps in front of readers? My idea is simple. Remove the link from the body text and instead use a brief margin note to signal readers that additional info awaits. In sketch ... Read More

Can curriculum design help turn conferences into classroom-style learning environments? Ever suffer from “conference head”? It’s that feeling, after a couple dozen speeches and panels, where you wonder: wow, what did I learn from all that talking? Having just returned from Books in Browsers (BiB) a tweet from Liza Daly stuck in my head:  Much better to have talks as a series of refinements or rebuttals vs. 50 people telling us that the digital revolution is 'here'. It got me thinking: is the standard conference format — solo talks plus panel discussions — the best way to “program” a one- or two-day get together? What if organizers structured events more like a great class? A few quick caveats before I answer: I have never designed or chaired a conference myself and I offer up these thoughts from the perspective of a frequent attendee and with a huge helping of humility: ... Read More

A skeptic's argument against indiscriminate, “lazy linking” Hyperlinks often get marquee billing as one of ebooks’ main advantages over print: an easy way to expand the scope and depth of any document, enriching it—and its readers—with targeted additions. I’ve participated in plenty of ebook development projects in which links are regarded as a kind of bare minimum, enhancement no-brainer. But do hyperlinks always help? Does their presence ever hurt the reading experience? No and sometimes. Let me take a crack at breaking down the downside of linking and review a few alternatives. Defensive Linking Some links read, to me at least, like a kind of defensive gesture on the part of the writer. As proof that he really knows what he’s talking about and is ready to share notes and research to bolster the authority his writing aspires to. But consider how distracting a link-laden sentence like ... Read More