While ebooks have been around for many years, recently rapid improvements in versatility and affordability among tablets and smartphones along with the increased access to mobile data, have lead to a dramatic rise in household ownership of these devices. The opportunity has disrupted definitions and commonly held assumptions about reading to now support visual and interactive content as well.

What is interactive reading?

Interactive reading is a subset of books that require engagement and interaction by the reader. Interactive ebooks are simply put, an enhanced ebook of an ebook that includes more than just the raw text and illustration we know from a typical print or ebook but a new digital publication standard that allows the publishers easily integration of puzzles, video, audio or even small mini games. The aim of the interactive ebook is to provide the users with a reading experience that goes beyond, or is different from what they can find in ebooks or regular print. Whenever it by adding audio, illustration or clever, swipe-able video and graphics and some very cool data visualization to play with in order enhance the experience for the reader.

The aim of interactive ebooks is to provide the users with a reading experience that goes beyond, or is different from what they can find in ebooks or regular print

Two types of interactive reading

• Comics: We all love the differences in comics comparing to ebooks and how comics have the ability to that tell an illustrative story. Stories that sometimes create the most memorable pieces of literature we read growing up. The shift in language mirrors the shift from e-books as static files to interactive ebooks that engage user interfaces. And in comics the reader is often transformed into the user. Therefore, interactivity goes in the line of engaging users to foster creativity and giving not just children, but also adults a very unique experience.
• Education: National Literacy Trust reported that 97% of all children said they had access to devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers, and more than half (52,4%) said that they would rather read using electronic devices, compared to just under a third (32%) who would rather read in print. The future academic books will most likely to be interactive ebooks, that will give both teachers and students more tools to provide dynamic learning experiences. Interactive ebooks shortens the link between a teacher and her students by providing the means to communicate through the ebook. The teacher can use the feedback from the individual student to tailor the curriculum, providing a tailored learning experience to fit each student.

Key factors for interactive reading

• High quality reading application: In 2014, 80% of online adults now own a smartphone while almost 50% have a tablet accordingly to Global Web Index and almost all smartphones are used to access the web. Therefore, building a high quality reading application that have the full support for interactive media such as dynamic content, video and audio is a must.
• Customer engagement: User engagement is the quality of the user experience that emphasizes the positive aspects of interaction and the way users are being motivated to use the applications. User engagement enables users to establish an online identify and create new ways of interacting with your fans. High user engagement, make it possible for you to gather data to help understand patterns and how the user interact with your content. Also, customers should be able to consume their interactive ebooks on several platforms and devices, such as iOS and Android and so forth. A fully featured cross-platform application will tell your story as you intended it.

For businesses, it is no longer enough to create a product that is reasonably priced with satisfying function. Today, it must also be beautiful, unique and meaningful. At Pubfront we help your business to sell experiences and coherence in making high quality eCommerce solutions. The technical support for interactive reading will grow new segments that have previously not seen the massive growth as in trade books. At Pubfront we see the rising trend of interactiveness and we can help your business to understand and leverage the opportunities it fosters. Feel free to experience the interactive ebook support for our customer ebok.no’s reading app on iOS.