This is a guest post by R.J. Madigan. Rae has written The Sword of Air, a very well-written fantasy book, to judge by this excellent excerpt on Ali Isaac’s blog.
What’s more unusual, though, is that she published the book on iBooks as a Multi-Touch iBook.
This is a technique that crosses the boundaries between books and movies, to create a unique experience. As I had never heard of it, I asked her to give us a presentation. How’s The Sword of Air different from any other book?
Let’s hear Rae explain it all for us.
Multi-touch iBooks: Changing the way people consume stories
When I was a child I read my way through the 1,000 pages of the Lord of the Rings with only my imagination, one or two illustrations and Tolkien’s writing to make it real. Today kids want more. Pharrel Williams said it best, ‘Kids today need a visual.’
Children are brought up with broadband wireless internet and touchscreen technology. It’s not just that they know how to use it from a young age. It’s in their mind, part of their consciousness and it affects the way they think. In schools teachers use internet enabled, interactive touch screen whiteboards instead of blackboards and chalk. Think about that for a minute. Children expect everything to be linked to the greater hive mind that is the internet and something that isn’t interactive is almost bizarre.
Decades ago Isaac Asimov in his short story ‘Robbie’, was writing about books you interact with and talk to. More recently Neil Stephenson based the core of his story ‘The Diamond Age,’ around a book that changed as the little girl who owned it grew up. Both writers envisaged a world where books are more than just print, they come alive and talk to you, react and interact with you. That world is now. The iPad has brought science fiction into reality.
No one’s really taken advantage of this new technology yet and I wanted to use it for my storytelling. This is why I have taken slightly different path to other author’s by publishing my first YA fantasy novel ‘The Sword of Air,’ as a multi-touch iBook.
Don’t get me wrong. I love printed books as much as you do and own many beautiful editions. I just believe we are on the edge of a paradigm change in the way people consume their stories. In the distant past there was oral tradition, then stories were written down, then printed in mass production, now blended with cinema iBooks and distributed at the speed of light all over the globe, available 24 hours a day. The medium changes, but the stories remain. Sales of printed books are falling every year, whilst the sales of ebooks are rising. The technological tide is rising and taking all of us with it, no matter how much we want to hold onto paperback books.
Apple has given everyone the iBooks author software for free because they have a very forward thinking strategy towards their users. This software enabled me to take my story and illustrate it in a way that isn’t possible in normal printed books. It’s given me lots of world building creative options like music, video, 3D modelling and photography to colour my world so the reader has a much more visceral experience.
Characters such as The Raven Queen, the brutal ruler of Ireland, and the loveable grogoch spring from the page with hundreds of beautiful photographs, that go full screen at the tap of a finger. Sound effects put you inside the action instead of just being told about it. The cinematic soundtrack adds another layer telling the story and giving depth to the characters as the book progresses. Short movies built right into the story put you inside the characters head, let you see what they see and feel their emotions.
See inside ‘The Sword of Air!’
i
Books allowed me to build a character map, which appears at the end of each chapter. It’s an interactive guide for the reader. As they come into the story each character and location is described in the pop up gallery at the end of each chapter.
The Sword of Air is unlike anything you have ever experienced before. It’s new, different, exciting and I promise you won’t be able to put it down. This is Punk publishing at its best. Pushing the boundaries of the publishing medium to create something new.
What’s the Story?
The Sword of Air is an epic fantasy story set in an altered reality of medieval Ireland. Sixteen year old Niamh Kelly’s village is burnt to the ground by the Raven Queen’s Fomor army, and her adoptive grandmother is brutally murdered right in front of her. She is forced to flee into the forests of the Nadur with only Fergus an old storyteller, her best friend Rauri and his wolfhound Bran for protection.
But why is the Raven Queen hunting an ordinary girl like Niamh? Maybe there is more to her destiny than she first thought. It turns out Fergus is more than old man with an impressive collection of books. When he gives Niamh a magical cloak of eagle feathers, she learns she must win the trust of the grogoch, the only living soul other than the Raven Queen who knows the location of the stone circle, the magical portal to the forgotten Fae people.
But will the Fae prove to be Niamh’s foe or friend? Can she really trust the arrogant but handsome crown prince of the Fae, Jareth, when he offers to accompany her on her journey to Tara, home of the Raven Queen? Niamh must find allies and the power within herself if she is to survive against the dark powers of the Raven Queen.
Once you’ve read it, I’d love to hear what you think of the story, the technology and how you think this will all develop in the future.
Who is R.J. Madigan?
R.J. Madigan’s persona, the Raven Queen
As a child, R.J Madigan lived in books, hungrily devouring the works of C.S Lewis, J.M Barry, Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl and J.R.R Tolkien. Libraries were a place she could escape to and truly be herself.
Her first book, ‘The Sword of Air’, is a stunning multi-touch iBook that includes breathtaking photography, cinematic soundtrack and HD video. Already gaining 5 star reviews, ‘The Sword of Air’ may be the first book to prove that multi-touch is the future of publishing. Why should books just be pages of text and not more interactive?
You can find out more about her and download the first three chapters of The Sword of Air on her website or read an excerpt on Ali Isaac’s blog. You can also follow The Sword of Air on Facebook and Pinterest.
Nicholas C. Rossis 
I don’t know. I know people are used to it. But as you say, I also went through LotR with nothing but my imagination . . . so what do you think? Did we become more imaginative, more intelligent, from having to create the worlds inside our minds through which our heroes trekked? I can’t help but think that, by taking away that necessity to create images in our minds the next generations won’t be able to think creatively…..
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I know what you mean, and wonder about that myself from time to time. Then again, multi-touch books can’t be worse in that respect than movies, right? 🙂
The irony is that I’ve read an excerpt of Madigan’s book and it’s beautifully written. So, it could be argued that the whole multi-touch aspect is not even necessary for many.
Still, I think it’s interesting to see a crossover between the various media, even if as an experiment. Everything has its place, right?
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Something to be sampled every now and then, but not as a regular diet. There will be a place for this kind of multi-media presentation, along with all the others.
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Absolutely! Thanks and welcome 🙂
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This is very interesting use of technology but as a parent I would be very hesitant about allowing my kids access to this form of digital book. I think it is better to allow people to visualise the images that are conjured up through the reading process – it seems to me that it allows the mind to expand and create for itself rather than handing individuals the images already (where’s the creative process?). Plus I think it is better for kids and young people to create with their own minds – it gives them the ability to think and create for themselves aside from being good brain calisthenics. Sometimes I think we can get too rapped up in new technology and not think of the long-term consequences to our kids and people in general – do we really want to be slaves to every form of tech that comes out? That said, ibooks might be very useful for kids that don’t like reading – so I’m not going to be dismissive of it’s usefulness. Me – I think I’ll just stick to my print and ebooks, lol 🙂
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Fair enough. My own reaction was the same as yours, to be honest.
Then I thought that, by letting our children watch movies, we are already making them passive recipients of another person’s imaginings. So, in that light, a multi-touch book might be preferable to a movie.
It’s hard to tell, isn’t it? 🙂
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That’s true, but I watch movies with my kids and have at least some idea of content. I’m assuming monitoring what kids will read/watch/listen to on an ibook could be a little more problematic. As a mum I’ve always tried to be careful what my children have watched – I don’t want them to grow up too quickly. The trouble with tech and the internet is that it can be both good and bad and I would rather err on the side of caution when it comes to my kids and teach them to make good choices and have good values, even if it means they don’t have every up-to date device out there. Lol I think sometimes it’s hard to be a parent in this day and age – at the end of the day is about balancing things and a little bit of compromise 🙂
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How true. Isn’t everything? 🙂
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Thank you for the opportunity to guest blog on The Sword of Air and for the compliment about how beautifully written the book is. At the end of the day The Sword of Air is still a book and you have to use your imagination to engage with the text. I’m not sure people yet fully understand what a multi-touch iBook is.
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That’s the problem with being an early adopter 🙂
May I also repeat how well-written a book it is. Kudos!
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Yes any artist who’s changed the world has had to put up with criticism – e.g. Jimi Hendrix, Andy Warhol, David Bowie. Jack Kerouac was told to ‘stop writing immediately,’ by one publisher. What can I say -I’m a rebel! But where would be the fun in just reproducing what’s already out there in the YA book market!
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Awesome! Glad we share the same sense of humour!
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Interesting medium. Kind of like a hybrid of a TV show and a book. I was actually talking to a friend yesterday about how printed books are getting shorter and less complicated due to lower attention spans. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say they won’t read a book because they’d rather wait for the movie or TV show.
Is there a limitation on length for these books? I can imagine the addition of pictures would make a 300-400 page fantasy novel a huge file and it would be hard to find enough pictures for it.
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Especially when you start adding video, I expect that things can easily get out of hand, filesize-wise!
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You’d need an illustrator too, right? So I wonder if it ends up being pricier than a paperback. Then again, using a hybrid medium could probably get you a bigger audience too.
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As you know, memories are formed based on emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the memory. Therefore, anything that triggers an emotional response is a good thing, as it means people will remember your book. As I often say (when I’m asked if I worry about book piracy), the Indie’s main enemy is obscurity. The fact that Rae chose to use a different format is a great cure for that.
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Good point. Obscurity seems to be harder and harder to avoid.
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Charles,
I sourced a lot of my media from shutterstock and istock audio so yes there is an upfront cost as you have to pay a license fee. I imagine the same would be the case if you used your own illustrator. I am just starting out so it is far too early to say whether an iBook can help you reach a larger audience. Another huge barrier of course is you can’t publish on Amazon and books can be hard to find in the iBooks store. I hope this answers your question. I am following your blog and enjoy reading your posts. You can follow the progress of my iBook at http://www.swordofair.net. I’ve written other articles that might help answer any other questions you have. Take care. Rae.
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Thanks for the info. I’ll follow and see how things go. It sounds like it’s currently dependent on a lot of third party marketing that allows for more the eBooks and Paperback.
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Hi Charles,
Don’t quote me on this but as far as I know there isn’t a limit on the length of these books. The Sword of Air is pretty lengthy. I would say the biggest barriers to authors at the moment is the steep learning curve that comes with using iBooks Author, iMovie etc.. They are not user friendly like wordpress etc… You need to be a bit of an IT geek. Hope this helps. Rae
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Thanks for the info. To be fair, WordPress isn’t as user friendly as it used to be. 😛
So do you have pictures on every page?
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Trust me iBooks Author is a whole different league. I did team up with an IT whizz friend of mine in the end for The Sword of Air. I can’t take all the credit. Like a lot of authors IT isn’t my forte. He’s written some interesting posts on the blog. Some pages are just text. I think images on every page might be a bit overkill but obviously it all comes down to personal taste.
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IT is one of the areas that I’m sure will make my brain melt. I agree that images on every page would be too much. Just wasn’t sure about the set up. I’m working off how Amazon will add money to an eBook’s price or take a cut (not sure how it works exactly) depending on file size. The more pictures, the bigger the price addition. Didn’t know if it was similar.
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Reblogged this on The Sword of Air and commented:
Thank you to to the immensely talented Nicholas C. Rossis for hosting this guest post on The Sword of Air.
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I confess, I cannot get my head around this. How is this different from Netflix on a tablet or iPad. Motion? As in Video. Interesting idea, but I am still with the old school of reading for enjoyment and spurring your imagination. Sigh. Progress has arrived and there goes that old-fashioned idea.
I don’t know that having everything so easy, kids will learn to think for themselves. Aren’t they spoon fed enough with all the new electronics available to them already? 😮
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It’s a richer environment, for sure. I think Rae’s next guest post will have to be on the subject of children’s imagination in our information age! 😀
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That w.o.u.l.d. be interesting. 😮
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Very interesting.
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Thanks! 🙂
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