Interactive eBooks are responsive digital textbooks that readers can leaf through in the way they desire. Reader can jump to a topic right away, listen to the pronunciation of words, refer to multimedia content for better insights, highlight important text, bookmark pages, or resort to other engaging tools for rewarding reading experience.

interactive ebook Guide

As readers move from one page to another, the content keeps them engaged. EBooks pride themselves of an array of exclusive features that ride on latest technological interventions to give a compelling fee while reading. This is the reason why many authors are now looking forward to create interactive ebook.

The eBooks can be read on various platforms like Android, iOS, Mac, Windows etc. through dedicated applications that allow the content to be present interactively. Most of the books meant for kids are being released in the form of interactive children's eBooks to fast pace the process of in-built learning. Since the concentration span of children is comparatively lower than that of grown-ups, it is important to present information in an exciting and engrossing manner. eBooks succeed in keeping children glued to the screens and prevent their attention from straying. Consequently, knowledge base of children is enriched significantly. However, eBooks are not limited to children only as adults too can enjoy them. Dedicated eBooks are being designed for grown-ups also

In the academic publications domain, those agencies which are appealing to the learning nous of individuals with interactive digital books are surely stealing the march over generations. EBooks for education & publishing industry are gaining huge popularity nowadays.

This guide offers rich insights into proven techniques for creating interactive eBooks equipped with cutting edge features. The guide provided below is extensive and covers all important aspects for successfully publishing interactive eBooks with the view of distributing them on multiple platforms with relative ease. The guide would provide you actionable insights into preparing your content in adherence to eBook conditions, and selecting strategic tools for both online and offline tasks. Alongside this, we would try to offer satisfactory responses to the queries that writers often seek solutions to.

Prominent Features of interactive eBooks

Touch responsiveness

As the readers pinch in or out the screen, the touch activates the content and the font size grows or diminishes accordingly. So, small or unreadable text never hassles the reader who can improve the visibility quotient of content as per one’s convenience and comfort levels.

Engaging multimedia

The eBooks have embedded videos as well as audio elements in them. An idea is articulated in lucid manner with video. If the reader is not interested in going through each line, he can turn on the audio and the customized voice would read the lines for him. This is really helpful when the person is busy in other task but want to go through the content without actually poring over it. Writer can also make provision for playing of light and groovy background music which would not suppress the voice of audio. This way boredom would not set in. Videos also help in quick comprehension by demonstrating the practical aspects visually.

Highlighting of text

The reader can use the text highlight feature in different forms. Important words or phrases can be highlighted in various colors for referring in future. This would come in handy when the reader would run into new words which he wants to memorize and then cross check later on. If some information that can prove potentially useful has to be bookmarked, the same can be done through text highlighting. Each new piece of information can be marked in a unique color for ease of referring to on a later date. The automatic read aloud feature, when turned on, can be used for reading along by making the text get highlighted when the voice engine pronounces that particular word. As the voice reads the text, the corresponding words get highlighted in the desired color for helping the reader to keep pace.

Animated content

EBooks that are exclusively developed for children contain lots of animation; though eBooks dedicated to senior readers also carry animations sparingly to offer them an immersive experience. Experts who master various animation techniques for eBook are assigned the job. Further, a picture tells a thousand words. Similarly, an animated sequence can narrate an entire story in just few scenes which help children to better absorb the theme of the content visually. Animation has to be considered with due respect when it comes to interactive enhanced eBook creation.

Dynamic graphics

In order to keep the receptive senses of reader active for longer duration, variations are needed. This is accomplished with graphics which brings in an entertaining change to break the monotony. A common example is the presentation of different pages in varying background colors and patterns so that the textural differences keep the reader wanting for more.

Learn to create an interactive eBook

For becoming a pro in creating interactive epubs, you must first take a look at how the concept of digital books is interpreted. The term ‘interactive’ has been grossly misunderstood in recent times by overzealous publishers who feel that interactivity can be achieved by just placing a few moving graphics haphazardly. The technology underpinning interactive eBooks has grown phenomenally and robust frameworks like Epub 3.0 and HTML5 have taken the experience defining elements to the next level.

Readers can be visually and mentally engaged with a host of awesome features that are a blend of audio-video elements, rich multimedia like animation and graphics, touch driven games, polls, feedbacks, text highlighting, bookmarking etc. A single eBook would be the receptacle of all these elements and much more. This interactivity is creating a new, dynamic and vibrant community of completely engaged readers.

If this information has left you itching for more in-depth and actionable points, then you may kick start with this guide. The guide on how to make an interactive ebook has been segmented into 5 parts to facilitate comprehensive knowledge sharing on all vital aspects.

Read on to explore the various interesting facets of eBook formatting, editing, and publishing. Also get to know about various eBook publishing platforms.