iBooks Author vs?
The buzz over the last several weeks
has been on Apple's new multimedia authoring program for iPads.
There has been a minor firestorm over
the license restrictions, i.e.; if you sell the product created with
Apple's software, it HAS to go through the iTunes store. If you give
it away (free), you can distribute it anywhere. The initial
reactions intimated that if you created your product and HAD to sell
it only through the Apple store meant Apple owned the rights to the
text. As it turns out, Apple's restriction applied only to the
output of its software. Not as draconian as it was first thought.
As an aside, for those of you using
Microsoft Office Student Home Edition, note that it cannot be used
for commercial use. At least one business has been turned in by a
former employee and had to pay fines. Pay attention to the EULA, you
might really be selling your soul.
But now from the shadows, a competitor
has emerged.
Atavist!
Atavist?
Who are they?
“The Atavist publishes bestselling
nonfiction stories that are longer than typical magazine articles but
shorter than books for digital devices like the iPad, iPhone, Kindle,
and Nook. In our app publication for the iPad/iPhone, each story is
laced with video, audiobooks, additional layers of information, and a
host of other features."
A boutique publisher with its own
software package developed for internal use, Periodic Technology,
which has one click creation for almost all devices. Right now it can be
licensed through the company, but they have announced a FREE beta
test program. To quote:
“We will soon be launching a free version of our platform for
everyone: authors, photographers, creators, small publications. To
join the list for our private beta please enter your email below, and
we’ll be in touch.”
I've signed up for to be a beta tester (masochist that I am) and
received the email below
Hello from Atavist, and thanks so much for signing up for our
free-version beta. We've been overwhelmed by the response! It's only
reconfirmed our suspicion that there are a huge number of talented
people who could use our platform for creative projects. So...now
we're rushing to get it to you. Our current plans are to let a small
number of people into an initial beta on March 1, with everyone else
to follow about four weeks later. We may be in touch between now and
then if the schedule shifts at all, as these things sometimes
do...
In the meantime, we greatly appreciate your interest,
we're extremely excited at what people have planned, and we're
working overtime to get started helping you produce
it.
Thanks,
Evan Ratliff
Atavist
www.atavist.com
As the testers get their hands on it, we'll see how it plays out.
Since they're already publishing for all of the platforms, the output
should be fine. It depends on how complex it is to prepare the input
files (the requirements for iBooks is very specific and not always
easy to follow).
A viable competitor in the public market. So all those textbooks
won't necessarily have to be on an Apple product.
If it works, how long before Google or Amazon moves in on them?
