Next Generation E-Reader

While several different technology companies are working on foldable and/or more user-friendly e-readers (see my previous post and the this New York Times article), Harlequin has gotten ahead of other publishers with its offering of an enriched "e-dition."

Harlequin Launches Enriched Edition eBooks
Wednesday July 9, 8:30 am ET

Harlequin is the first publisher to release entirely enriched eBooks

TORONTO, July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Harlequin Enterprises Limited (http://www.eharlequin.com/), the global leader in series romance and one of the world's leading publishers of women's fiction, announced today the launch of their Enriched Edition eBooks. With this launch, Harlequin becomes the first publisher to offer entire eBooks that are enriched with interactive buttons that hyperlink to Web sites with more information about the content.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080709/NYW026 )

The launch title, UNMASKED (http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/D0202CC6-7C9A-4669-AC03-444A8CBCC17B/10/126/en/ ContentDetails.htm?ID=3248E63E-7845-4356-B5CC-21B6FF6331D0) by Nicola Cornick (http://www.eharlequin.com/author.html?authorid=726), a Regency-set historical available from www.eBooks.eHarlequin.com, has been enriched with interactive buttons that hyperlink to Web sites containing photos, historical commentaries, illustrations, sound effects, maps, articles and more, bringing the world of the novel to life without the reader having to leave the computer or the current screen page. The interactive buttons have been designed to be unobtrusive, so if one prefers not to access the bonus material, the reading experience remains uninterrupted.

By exploiting the interactive possibilities inherent with eBooks, Harlequin is recognizing the opportunity for online reading to enhance the reading experience, evolving it above and beyond the replication of print books.

Harlequin will release select Enriched Edition titles from its many series and imprints, but chose to launch with a historical release since the period setting particularly lends itself to the enriched experience. Obscure period details, customs, terms and references become instantly accessible should the reader wish to learn more about the story's context.

Enriched Edition eBooks are available at www.eBooks.eHarlequin.com and are being sold at the same price as regular eBooks.

I'm actually surprised they haven't combined an audio feature with their enriched e-book, since that and/or video is the only thing left.

Although this "enrichment" of e-books was inevitable and the natural next step, what will it do to the next generation's attention spans and expectations? We've all probably read the Atlantic article about Google making us stupid; we've all seen the trend away from print-only models to print-and-ancillary/online. We've all accepted that the next step will be print-and-multimedia, but with this trend, will there be a publishing industry left, or will it be swallowed up in the entertainment industry as the line between the two blurs?

And as the public becomes used to more flash and interactive media, how many will choose to exercise their brain with the simple medium of the written word?