Reimagining the Page: The False Dawn of Digital Reading (Part 3 of 3)
In our last discussion, we examined the unsuccessful business model of digital shorts or e-singles, which didn't sustain a publisher that relied solely on them. However, another approach to innovating books involves starting with existing fiction or nonfiction works and augmenting their ebook versions with multimedia elements, such as audio and video clips, pop-up graphics, and animations—often known as ‘enhanced ebooks’. With the widespread use of multimedia-capable devices like iPads, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, and Google Nexus, enhanced ebooks appeared to many publishers as a viable new direction. Indeed, significant experimentation with this format began around 2011.
I. Enhanced ebooks: A Radical Experiment
In 2012, media mogul Barry Diller and film producer Scott Rudin pitched a novel idea to Frances Coady, a former publisher at Vintage and Picador. As the chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp, a prominent digital media company based in the Frank Gehry-designed building in New York's Chelsea district, Diller was exploring new avenues to enhance their digital portfolio, which already included The Daily Beast and the dating service Match.com. The proposition was to create a new type of publishing company tailored for the digital age. With an ambitious budget of $20 million, the goal was to anticipate and shape the future of the book—envisioning its evolution over the next several decades and beginning to create that future now.
The timing was ripe; the digital revolution was accelerating, ebooks were proliferating, and the future was unmistakably digital. This presented an exciting opportunity to blend traditional publishing expertise with cutting-edge technology. Frances found the idea too compelling to resist. She recommended that they partner with The Atavist Magazine, a Brooklyn-based digital startup known for its innovative online storytelling platform. This platform was not only visually appealing but also allowed for a dynamic engagement with narrative, making The Atavist an ideal partner for this venture. It would provide a technological foundation while also benefiting from the financial support, as it was still navigating the challenges of being a fledgling startup.
Thus, in September 2012, Atavist Books was established, marking the beginning of a bold experiment to redefine storytelling in the digital era.
Empowered to innovate, Frances was intent on pushing the boundaries of digital publishing as far as possible. Inspired by The Atavist Magazine, which had showcased the aesthetic capabilities of the digital medium, she envisioned transforming ebooks into visually and auditorily engaging experiences. Rather than merely enhancing existing ebooks with incremental multimedia additions, she aimed to reimagine ebooks as holistic digital projects, integrating sound and dynamic elements, a concept that was still nascent at the time.
Frances believed that these digital projects should be concise. This was influenced partly by the emerging popularity of Byliner's e-singles and partly because The Atavist Magazine was already exploring a similar format with what they termed ‘long-form journalism’. Beyond their brevity, she saw no limits: the goal was to invent a new form of digital narrative, and whether these creations would still be recognized as "books" was secondary.
In March 2014, Atavist Books launched its inaugural title, a digital-only novella titled Sleep Donation by acclaimed author Karen Russell, whose debut novel Swamplandia! had gained significant attention. Sleep Donation explores an America gripped by a severe insomnia epidemic that can only be cured through "sleep donations" from healthy individuals, stored in sleep banks and administered to sufferers. The novella featured an evocative cover designed by Chip Kidd, complete with sound and motion, and received widespread acclaim, including positive reviews in major publications like the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The title performed exceptionally well, selling over 20,000 copies. While this initial success was promising for the fledgling venture, it was only a short time before challenges began to emerge.
Sleep Donation achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success; however, it was essentially a straightforward ebook. Sold on Amazon for $3.99, it could be easily read on any Kindle. Beyond its interactive cover, the ebook itself did not incorporate any complex or experimental technical features. Challenges arose when Atavist Books endeavored to create something more intricate.
In May 2014, they released Hari Kunzru’s Twice Upon a Time: Listening to New York, an ambitious project described as "a unique, multilayered digital experience" that combined a prose essay on New York's soundscape with Moondog's music and binaural city recordings. This project was undeniably experimental, but it faced significant distribution hurdles: how were readers supposed to access this multimedia ebook? Major platforms like Amazon and Apple did not support multimedia ebooks of this nature, leading Atavist Books to distribute it through the Atavist app.
This solution proved to be less than ideal. Readers were required to download the Atavist app, sign in, and then purchase the ebook to read it within the app. This multi-step process was cumbersome and off-putting for many potential readers. The sentiment was clear: if accessing the content was not a one-click process, it was simply too much effort. As a result, the more technologically advanced the projects became, the more challenging they were to successfully implement. The distribution process was overly complicated, and there simply was not a sufficient market demand for such complex digital products.
Atavist Books then encountered another significant hurdle: raising awareness for their ebooks. Sleep Donation did not face this issue initially; it received considerable attention from reviewers due to its well-known author, the novelty of being the inaugural release by a prominent new digital publishing house, and because Atavist Books had invested heavily in promoting both the book and the venture. However, Sleep Donation proved to be an outlier.
Subsequent releases struggled with visibility. Without a print version, review editors were often uninterested. It was only when Sleep Donation was later published in print by an established publisher like Farrar, Straus, and Giroux that it received substantial review coverage.
Furthermore, the absence of a physical edition in bookstores made it difficult to generate consumer awareness of the books. Despite extensive marketing efforts that included a wide array of strategies—from Facebook promotions to various online campaigns—Frances noted the challenges were compounded by the book’s digital-only presence. She explained the consumer dilemma: "It's not in the bookstore, I'm not hearing about it from trusted sources, I can't see it anywhere, and now I'm supposed to download an app to read it? Are you kidding? Why would I go through all that for something when I don’t even know what it is?" This multifaceted barrier made it exceedingly difficult for Atavist Books to replicate the initial success of Sleep Donation.
By September 2014, Frances realized that the ambitious venture of Atavist Books into digital publishing needed to be revised. The innovative idea of creating beautiful, multimedia ebooks that were more than mere digital versions of print texts was clashing with significant obstacles: lack of review coverage and a complex distribution system. Frances pondered how to salvage the situation, and two options emerged.
One option was to pivot towards producing straightforward e-singles that could be easily purchased on Amazon and read on a Kindle, similar to Sleep Donation. However, this approach strayed from Atavist Books’ mission to profoundly innovate digital publishing. Additionally, the e-single model, although initially promising, appeared increasingly unviable financially. Frances observed that e-singles struggled to generate sufficient revenue to sustain operations and pay writers: "I looked really hard at the e-single thing and as a business model, it doesn’t work. It’s really hard to grow. You’re doing these little books and people think they shouldn’t be paying anything for them."
The alternative was to enhance the print side of the business, which would likely ensure review coverage and robust distribution. This traditional revenue model might stabilize the company while they figured out the digital side. By this stage, Atavist had several print books under contract and could potentially expand this aspect. However, this didn't align with the ethos of IAC, a fundamentally digital company, which had invested in Atavist Books. IAC, which owned The Daily Beast among other digital ventures, was unlikely to see the logic in investing in physical inventory and warehousing.
Thus, just six months after launching its first book, Atavist Books confronted an impasse. The digital-only model was not sustainable, e-singles couldn't support the business alone, and shifting focus to print was incompatible with IAC’s digital strategy. In October 2014, the decision was made to cease operations by the year's end. Atavist Books helped authors find other publishers for their unpublished works. Despite having produced a handful of creative and visually appealing ebooks, Atavist Books had to close down, marking an end to this bold experiment in digital publishing.
II. Ebooks as apps
John B. Thompson raises a pertinent question about Atavist Books' challenges. He suggests that the technical demands of their approach—requiring readers to download the Atavist app, sign in, and then purchase and read books—may have been overly complicated and deterred potential users. In an era dominated by devices like the iPad, he wonders if it wouldn't be simpler and more effective to develop the book as an app directly available for purchase and download from the App Store.
Various publishers have explored this approach. For instance, a small indie team at Birchtree developed an app for a digital-only publication authored by a young American scientist exploring the future of the internet. The project was unique because the text was written concurrently with the app's development, taking about two months to complete. The Birchtree team designed a non-linear navigation interface and enriched the text with interactive 3D models, videos, images, and other online content.
Priced at £4.99 on the App Store, the app was well-received by the author, who praised Birchtree's developers. However, despite the positive feedback, sales were underwhelming, plateauing at around 1,000 copies. With development costs amounting to £20,000 and revenues after Apple's commission totaling less than £4,000, the financial outcome was a substantial loss, not accounting for any fees or royalties paid to the author. This scenario underscores the financial and logistical challenges facing digital publications in app form.
Around the same time as the previous example, a different scenario unfolded with one of the commercial imprints at a UK-based publishing house. This project involved a well-known scientist who was recognized for his popular science books. His latest work was a richly illustrated book designed to demonstrate how science can elucidate natural phenomena to young readers. The publisher opted to collaborate with 'Phantom,' an agency known for working across various platforms and industries, which also boasted an in-house team of app developers.
Phantom was informed that the budget for the app was set at £40,000, which was considerably lower than what they would typically require—normally, they would expect at least double that amount to develop an app of the proposed complexity. However, attracted by the project and seeing potential benefits in fostering a relationship with publishers, Phantom agreed to the terms. They decided on a deal where the publisher would cover the production costs with the £40,000, and in return, Phantom would receive a share of the revenues.
With only three months to complete the project, Phantom assigned five full-time staff members and occasionally brought in specialists and freelancers as necessary. They utilized the book's full text and enriched it with custom illustrations, animations, audio, and video clips featuring the author, along with various interactive activities and games. One of the main technical hurdles was integrating large amounts of text with single images, a challenge in the app format where space is limited, especially on a tablet screen in landscape mode. Phantom innovatively addressed this by adopting a parallax effect commonly used in video game design, which allowed different layers of content to move at varying speeds during screen swipes, thereby creating a sense of depth.
Despite the complexities and the need to devise new processes and troubleshoot in real-time, Phantom delivered the app on schedule. It was launched a week after the hardcover edition's release in September 2011, priced at £9.99 and $13.99 in the App Store.
This app was a hit, selling 15,000 to 20,000 copies in the first few months alone. Ultimately, it reached sales of around 35,000 copies, with half of these in North America, a quarter in the UK, and the remaining quarter in other parts of the world. After accounting for Apple's 30% commission, the net revenue stood at approximately £230,000, or $360,000. Given that the production costs were only £40,000, this app turned out to be a substantial commercial success.
The reasons for this success were multifaceted. While the app’s stylish technical design and user-friendly interface certainly played a role, other, more traditional factors were crucial. The timing of the app’s release, aligned with the print book launch, the significant marketing budget allocated for both the book and the app, and a vigorous promotional campaign by the publisher were all pivotal. The author's high international profile and proven track record of successful books also helped drive interest and sales.
The app did not just enhance the book’s content but extended it in innovative ways, yet its success owed much to conventional publishing strategies—without the coordinated release and robust marketing, its impact might have been considerably less.
These examples illustrate a trend towards what could be termed hybrid publishing, where traditional trade publishers, from small indies to large corporate entities, delve into innovative publishing by developing apps. These might be released as standalone products or as enhanced ebooks that rework and enrich text from printed books. In such hybrid publishing, the marriage of innovation and tradition is key. App developers are integral to the creative process, bringing technical expertise and new ideas. However, the initiative and financial investment typically come from the publishers, who are exploring digital formats to gauge market interest and determine the feasibility of further investment.
But is it worthwhile for publishers to invest in creating apps and enhanced ebooks? The financial outcomes from such ventures have been decidedly mixed across the publishing industry. While some projects have achieved significant success, selling upwards of 100,000 to 200,000 copies, many others have not met such high marks, with sales often languishing in the hundreds or low thousands. This disparity has led to skepticism within the industry about the profitability and wisdom of pursuing such digitally augmented publications, especially when they involve merely adding multimedia elements to existing narrative texts.
Evan Schnittman, then Sales Director at Bloomsbury, articulated this skepticism at the 2011 London Book Fair Digital Conference. He argued that attempting to innovate the traditional narrative reading process by integrating digital enhancements—such as audio and interactive elements—often fails to add meaningful value. Schnittman suggested that these efforts could be seen as a nonstarter since the return on investment often does not align with the costs involved in creating these enhanced versions. His comments reflect a broader industry debate about whether the benefits of such digital enhancements justify the significant resources required for their development, particularly when they don’t substantially improve the reading experience or significantly boost sales. This ongoing discussion continues to shape publishers' strategies regarding the integration of digital technology into traditional publishing formats.
III. Touch Press: Mastering the Ebook as App
In his book, John B. Thompson points out that while traditional narrative texts might not benefit significantly from digital enhancements, other types of books—such as cookbooks, travel books, and children's books—present unique opportunities for digital innovation. These genres inherently lend themselves to interactive and multimedia elements that can enrich the reader's experience.
Thompson suggests that instead of merely adding features to existing texts, publishers and developers should reconsider the very concept of what constitutes a book. By starting from scratch—with a clean slate—there's potential to fundamentally rethink how books are designed and interacted with in the digital age. This approach would allow for the exploration of how digital tools and capabilities can be integrated from the outset, rather than retrofitted, to create entirely new types of engaging and informative content.
For example, digital cookbooks could include interactive recipes that allow users to change portion sizes dynamically, watch technique videos, or even participate in cooking classes directly through the book. Travel books could offer virtual tours, up-to-date event information, and interactive maps that engage users more deeply than traditional print could. Children's books might include animations, interactive storytelling, and educational games that make learning more captivating.
A notable instance is Touch Press's venture into digital publishing. Touch Press distinguished itself in digital publishing by positioning itself not just as an app developer, but as a high-end publisher, producing what they considered digital books rather than mere apps. Max Whitby, co-founder of Touch Press, emphasized this distinction: "If you say 'app developer' to someone, they think of a purely technical company that converts books into apps. That’s not what we are."
The origin of Touch Press was almost serendipitous. Max Whitby, formerly a television producer for the BBC, and Theo Gray, a software engineer and author with a deep interest in chemistry living near Chicago, both had a passion for the Periodic Table. Their mutual interest led them to become collaborators after a meeting in 2002. They formed a business centered around the Periodic Table, which they whimsically described as “an empire of the Periodic Table.”
At the time, Theo was collaborating with a software company tasked by Apple to develop some of the iPad's initial software. This collaboration included work on Mathematica, a program Theo had helped develop, which became instrumental in their project. Realizing the potential of the iPad and Mathematica, they envisioned a dynamic app that allowed users to interact with the Periodic Table in innovative ways, such as spinning images of elements with a touch.
Faced with the challenge of developing this app in just sixty days to coincide with the iPad’s launch in April 2010, they used Mathematica to create algorithms for integrating and resizing images to produce interactive spinning effects, and for seamlessly combining these images with text and labels. They also needed to convince Apple that their product was more than just a digital text—it was a new form of ebook that leveraged the iPad's capabilities far beyond those of conventional e-readers like the Kindle, which were limited to static text and had longer battery life but fewer interactive features.
Apple was persuaded by their vision. The app, "The Elements," was completed on time and featured on a select number of iPads provided to journalists before the public launch. The response was overwhelmingly positive, signaling a successful reimagining of what an ebook could be in the digital age.
The launch of Touch Press's app was met with outstanding publicity and immediate success, selling 3,600 copies on its first day at $13.99 and £9.99. It continued to perform well, selling over a million copies globally in fourteen languages, including Japanese, French, and German, and generated more than $3 million in net revenue.
Before the app, Theo had published a book titled The Elements in September 2009 with Black Dog & Leventhal, a small New York publisher. The book, translated into several languages, had sold about 70,000 copies across all languages. However, following the release of the app, sales of the print book surged, eventually exceeding 580,000 copies worldwide. This dual success in both app and print formats marked a spectacular achievement.
The success of The Elements app played a crucial role in the foundation of Touch Press in the summer of 2010. The company launched shortly after the app's release, raising about half a million dollars, partly from two angel investors. Touch Press positioned itself not just as an app developer but as a new kind of publisher, pioneering the concept of the book-as-app.
Despite strong technical skills and audio-visual expertise—bolstered by Max’s background in television—Touch Press lacked depth in traditional publishing experience. None of the principals had direct book publishing experience; Theo’s understanding came from his limited interaction with a small trade publisher. Moreover, apart from The Elements, they did not possess the intellectual property typically held by established publishers, nor did they have experience managing relationships with authors and agents. This gap led them to partner with various organizations to develop new projects.
Their collaborators ranged from traditional publishers like Faber, HarperCollins, and the University of Chicago Press, to TV production companies and classical music organizations. Among these, the partnership with Faber was particularly successful, producing several acclaimed books-as-apps like Solar System, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, and Shakespeare’s Sonnets. The Waste Land app, for instance, transformed Eliot’s seminal work by allowing users to experience the poem through multiple readings, including recordings by Eliot himself, and an innovative performance by Fiona Shaw. It also included a vast array of notes and commentaries accessible at a touch, enriching the reader's engagement with the text. This app not only reached the top position among worldwide bestselling book apps but also garnered glowing reviews.
Touch Press exemplified the potential of apps to revitalize and expand the scope of traditional texts by integrating audio-visual elements, offering a user experience unattainable with print alone. Their high-quality, premium apps set them apart in the digital publishing space, consistently earning spots as App of the Week and Editor’s Choice in the App Store and receiving widespread critical acclaim. In a burgeoning field with diverse participants, from solo developers to large publishers experimenting with app formats, Touch Press distinguished itself as a leader in creating premium digital experiences.
But questions about the long-term sustainability of their creative enterprise lingered. They faced the critical issue of whether their business model could consistently succeed. For every successful app like The Elements or Solar System, there were others that faltered, selling disappointingly low volumes. Developing such premium apps involved considerable investment, and the financial returns from unsuccessful projects posed significant risks for the small company. Success in this business required a steady stream of hits to maintain profitability.
By 2012, Touch Press was at a crucial juncture, as their initial funding was dwindling. They had raised half a million dollars in 2010 and an additional £2 million subsequently, propelling the company forward. However, by late 2012, they needed to reassess their viability in the face of depleting resources.
At this pivotal moment, an exciting opportunity arose from an unexpected quarter. Impressed by Touch Press’s The Waste Land app, senior executives at Disney approached them to develop an app chronicling the history of animation. This project seemed ideally suited to the app medium—a richly illustrated exploration of animation history with Disney, a cornerstone of the industry and holder of an extensive archive of beloved characters and films. This collaboration promised not only creative alignment but also significant marketing support from one of the world’s most powerful entertainment brands.
Touch Press partnered with Walt Disney Animation Studios in the autumn of 2012, and by December, they were deeply engaged in the project. Approximately ten Touch Press staff members, along with a team from Disney, dedicated eight months to developing the app. The budget was a substantial £400,000, with Theo acting as the author, integrating the text with dynamic visual content. The app allowed users to interact with animation history, bringing characters to life and offering insights into animation techniques through interactive features.
Launched on August 8, 2013, at $13.99, the app coincided with the D23 Expo, garnering immediate attention and achieving Editor’s Choice on Apple’s App Store. This visibility sparked a surge in initial sales, which, while tapering off typically after release, revived dramatically when Disney Animated was named Apple’s iPad App of the Year on December 16. The announcement spurred another sales spike, lasting through the end of December.
Disney Animated also won numerous accolades, including Best App in the Academic/Reference category at the 2014 Digital Book Awards and a Children’s BAFTA for Interactive: Adapted. This slew of awards underscored the app’s exceptional reception and critical acclaim, marking it as a standout success in the realm of digital publishing.
Yet, despite the high quality of its apps, Touch Press faced significant commercial challenges with Disney Animated. To cover the costs and make a substantial financial contribution to the company, they needed to sell at least 100,000 copies of the app, with targets of up to 300,000 to 500,000 copies to truly impact their bottom line. Although the app sold well, it did not meet these ambitious sales goals, raising doubts about the viability of producing premium apps as a sustainable business model.
"Disney Animated was a critical litmus test for us," Max explained. "It was a beautifully produced app that we put our hearts into. It was about a subject that has a broad appeal, supported by Disney’s massive marketing influence. Yet, it only sold 70,000 units in the first few months. This outcome has forced us to reconsider our business model."
The challenges were compounded by the evolving dynamics of the app market. When The Elements was released, it was a novelty—an app that truly showcased what the iPad could do, at a time when the App Store was not as saturated. By January 2015, however, the App Store offered over 1.4 million apps, with 40,000-50,000 new apps added monthly. The vast majority of these apps were free, following the 'freemium' model, and most paid apps were priced at the lowest points—99¢ making up nearly half of all paid apps, and $1.99 apps nearly another fifth. With such a pricing model, convincing consumers to pay $13.99 for an app was increasingly difficult.
Touch Press faced two significant hurdles: visibility and pricing. The "discoverability" problem in such a saturated market was daunting. Launching an app in the App Store, where Apple controls which apps are featured and where tens of thousands of new apps are added monthly, meant that even getting noticed was a massive challenge. This visibility issue was far greater than anything faced by traditional book publishers, despite their concerns about the decreasing number of physical bookstores.
Furthermore, the prevalent low pricing of most apps made it challenging to justify a higher price point for a premium product like Disney Animated. The consumer's risk perception—reluctance to pay a substantial amount for an app that might not meet expectations—was a significant barrier.
Even with the considerable advantages of a partnership with Disney, Touch Press found it impossible to generate sufficient revenue to cover their high production costs and sustain the business. After rigorously testing their business model with Disney Animated, Max concluded, "We tested the model exquisitely well, and it doesn’t work." This realization marked a pivotal moment for Touch Press, highlighting the intrinsic challenges of producing and selling premium apps in a market driven by low-cost and free alternatives.
Faced with mounting challenges, Touch Press had to consider their future direction. One option was to downscale—reduce staff, cut costs, and produce lower-quality apps at a cheaper price. However, to Max and Theo, this approach seemed like conceding defeat. They had founded Touch Press with a vision to innovate publishing and create a new kind of book—the book-as-app—that provided a rich multimedia experience. Scaling back would compromise their ability to produce the high-quality apps that had become their hallmark. They realized that making minor cost adjustments could save some expenses, perhaps 10 to 20 percent, but more significant cuts would dilute the quality that defined their brand. Producing lower-end apps that merely functioned without offering aesthetic value was not the path they wanted to pursue, and it risked alienating their top talent.
Another strategy was to pivot the business model towards agency work, leveraging their technical expertise to provide app development services for other companies looking to enhance their brand or promote products. This shift could potentially offer substantial revenue with good profit margins, especially if they could negotiate fees well above their production costs. They could capitalize on their reputation as premium app developers to transform Touch Press into a profitable enterprise. However, this route would likely sacrifice their creative autonomy, as client-driven projects often come with strict demands and adherence to the client's vision, leaving little room for the kind of innovative work that produced apps like The Waste Land.
By 2014, the urgency to act became apparent as continuing their current operations without change was unsustainable. The Board decided to bring in a new CEO with a strong background in business development, tasked with steering the company towards profitability. The company relocated to a stylish office in central London, rebranded itself from Touch Press to touchpress, and intensified efforts to expand the agency side of the business. However, relationships between the original founders and the new management began to strain. Max resigned from the Board, and both he and Theo shifted their focus to other projects.
The agency business model did not succeed for the rebranded touchpress, and by early 2016, the company faced serious financial difficulties. The new CEO was dismissed, and the company’s portfolio of science and literature apps was sold to a new venture, Touch Press Inc., formed through a collaboration between Irish digital publisher StoryToys and educational games specialist Amplify Games. This new entity, rebranded as Amphio, announced a focus on developing interactive tools and content for educational and cultural institutions.
This marked the end of Touch Press’s ambitious venture to redefine publishing with beautifully crafted apps for the consumer market, fully leveraging the iPad's technological capabilities. The journey concluded with a shift toward a more focused and sustainable business model oriented toward educational and institutional applications.
IV. Final Autopsy: The False Dawn of the Digital Revolution
From 2010 to 2015, the publishing industry experienced a surge of innovative ventures propelled by the digital revolution, each aiming to redefine what a book could be in the digital age. Touch Press stood out as one of the most original and ambitious players in this arena, but they were part of a larger movement exploring the expansive potential of digital books.
The notion of "re-inventing the book" varied widely among these ventures. For some, it involved altering the conventional length of books—moving away from the traditional constraints that dictate a book must be of a certain length to justify a print run. This freedom gave rise to formats like the e-single or digital short, compact works designed for quick consumption.
For others, the re-invention was more profound. It involved rethinking the book as a dynamic digital experience rather than merely transferring static print texts onto screens. This vision embraced the full spectrum of digital capabilities to transform the very essence of what a book is. These books were not static but fluid, transforming readers into active participants in the narrative, making the story come alive in ways impossible in print.
However, the transition to these groundbreaking formats was fraught with challenges more complex than just conceptualizing and creating them. The primary hurdle was not the lack of creative ideas or technological ability, which were abundantly demonstrated in numerous projects during this period. Instead, it was the difficulty in establishing a sustainable business model and organizational structure that could support the continuous production of these innovative digital works.
Despite the initial excitement and the successful launch of several notable digital books, many of these ventures struggled to find a lasting foothold. The economic viability of these projects proved elusive, as the market dynamics shifted and the novelty of digital experiments met the harsh realities of consumer economics. Many ventures could not sustain sufficient revenue to support their operations long-term. Initial successes often gave way to financial pressures, leading to the closure of many promising startups.
This period of intense creativity highlighted the complex interplay between innovation and market viability. The promise of a digital revolution transforming the book industry into something new gradually gave way to the recognition that creating a new form of the book was more daunting than simply introducing a new format. As the excitement waned, the industry faced the reality that the dawn of a radical redefinition of the book might indeed be more of a false start, marked by as many endings as beginnings.
I. Enhanced ebooks: A Radical Experiment
In 2012, media mogul Barry Diller and film producer Scott Rudin pitched a novel idea to Frances Coady, a former publisher at Vintage and Picador. As the chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp, a prominent digital media company based in the Frank Gehry-designed building in New York's Chelsea district, Diller was exploring new avenues to enhance their digital portfolio, which already included The Daily Beast and the dating service Match.com. The proposition was to create a new type of publishing company tailored for the digital age. With an ambitious budget of $20 million, the goal was to anticipate and shape the future of the book—envisioning its evolution over the next several decades and beginning to create that future now.
The timing was ripe; the digital revolution was accelerating, ebooks were proliferating, and the future was unmistakably digital. This presented an exciting opportunity to blend traditional publishing expertise with cutting-edge technology. Frances found the idea too compelling to resist. She recommended that they partner with The Atavist Magazine, a Brooklyn-based digital startup known for its innovative online storytelling platform. This platform was not only visually appealing but also allowed for a dynamic engagement with narrative, making The Atavist an ideal partner for this venture. It would provide a technological foundation while also benefiting from the financial support, as it was still navigating the challenges of being a fledgling startup.
Thus, in September 2012, Atavist Books was established, marking the beginning of a bold experiment to redefine storytelling in the digital era.
Empowered to innovate, Frances was intent on pushing the boundaries of digital publishing as far as possible. Inspired by The Atavist Magazine, which had showcased the aesthetic capabilities of the digital medium, she envisioned transforming ebooks into visually and auditorily engaging experiences. Rather than merely enhancing existing ebooks with incremental multimedia additions, she aimed to reimagine ebooks as holistic digital projects, integrating sound and dynamic elements, a concept that was still nascent at the time.
Frances believed that these digital projects should be concise. This was influenced partly by the emerging popularity of Byliner's e-singles and partly because The Atavist Magazine was already exploring a similar format with what they termed ‘long-form journalism’. Beyond their brevity, she saw no limits: the goal was to invent a new form of digital narrative, and whether these creations would still be recognized as "books" was secondary.
In March 2014, Atavist Books launched its inaugural title, a digital-only novella titled Sleep Donation by acclaimed author Karen Russell, whose debut novel Swamplandia! had gained significant attention. Sleep Donation explores an America gripped by a severe insomnia epidemic that can only be cured through "sleep donations" from healthy individuals, stored in sleep banks and administered to sufferers. The novella featured an evocative cover designed by Chip Kidd, complete with sound and motion, and received widespread acclaim, including positive reviews in major publications like the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The title performed exceptionally well, selling over 20,000 copies. While this initial success was promising for the fledgling venture, it was only a short time before challenges began to emerge.
Sleep Donation achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success; however, it was essentially a straightforward ebook. Sold on Amazon for $3.99, it could be easily read on any Kindle. Beyond its interactive cover, the ebook itself did not incorporate any complex or experimental technical features. Challenges arose when Atavist Books endeavored to create something more intricate.
In May 2014, they released Hari Kunzru’s Twice Upon a Time: Listening to New York, an ambitious project described as "a unique, multilayered digital experience" that combined a prose essay on New York's soundscape with Moondog's music and binaural city recordings. This project was undeniably experimental, but it faced significant distribution hurdles: how were readers supposed to access this multimedia ebook? Major platforms like Amazon and Apple did not support multimedia ebooks of this nature, leading Atavist Books to distribute it through the Atavist app.
This solution proved to be less than ideal. Readers were required to download the Atavist app, sign in, and then purchase the ebook to read it within the app. This multi-step process was cumbersome and off-putting for many potential readers. The sentiment was clear: if accessing the content was not a one-click process, it was simply too much effort. As a result, the more technologically advanced the projects became, the more challenging they were to successfully implement. The distribution process was overly complicated, and there simply was not a sufficient market demand for such complex digital products.
Atavist Books then encountered another significant hurdle: raising awareness for their ebooks. Sleep Donation did not face this issue initially; it received considerable attention from reviewers due to its well-known author, the novelty of being the inaugural release by a prominent new digital publishing house, and because Atavist Books had invested heavily in promoting both the book and the venture. However, Sleep Donation proved to be an outlier.
Subsequent releases struggled with visibility. Without a print version, review editors were often uninterested. It was only when Sleep Donation was later published in print by an established publisher like Farrar, Straus, and Giroux that it received substantial review coverage.
Furthermore, the absence of a physical edition in bookstores made it difficult to generate consumer awareness of the books. Despite extensive marketing efforts that included a wide array of strategies—from Facebook promotions to various online campaigns—Frances noted the challenges were compounded by the book’s digital-only presence. She explained the consumer dilemma: "It's not in the bookstore, I'm not hearing about it from trusted sources, I can't see it anywhere, and now I'm supposed to download an app to read it? Are you kidding? Why would I go through all that for something when I don’t even know what it is?" This multifaceted barrier made it exceedingly difficult for Atavist Books to replicate the initial success of Sleep Donation.
By September 2014, Frances realized that the ambitious venture of Atavist Books into digital publishing needed to be revised. The innovative idea of creating beautiful, multimedia ebooks that were more than mere digital versions of print texts was clashing with significant obstacles: lack of review coverage and a complex distribution system. Frances pondered how to salvage the situation, and two options emerged.
One option was to pivot towards producing straightforward e-singles that could be easily purchased on Amazon and read on a Kindle, similar to Sleep Donation. However, this approach strayed from Atavist Books’ mission to profoundly innovate digital publishing. Additionally, the e-single model, although initially promising, appeared increasingly unviable financially. Frances observed that e-singles struggled to generate sufficient revenue to sustain operations and pay writers: "I looked really hard at the e-single thing and as a business model, it doesn’t work. It’s really hard to grow. You’re doing these little books and people think they shouldn’t be paying anything for them."
The alternative was to enhance the print side of the business, which would likely ensure review coverage and robust distribution. This traditional revenue model might stabilize the company while they figured out the digital side. By this stage, Atavist had several print books under contract and could potentially expand this aspect. However, this didn't align with the ethos of IAC, a fundamentally digital company, which had invested in Atavist Books. IAC, which owned The Daily Beast among other digital ventures, was unlikely to see the logic in investing in physical inventory and warehousing.
Thus, just six months after launching its first book, Atavist Books confronted an impasse. The digital-only model was not sustainable, e-singles couldn't support the business alone, and shifting focus to print was incompatible with IAC’s digital strategy. In October 2014, the decision was made to cease operations by the year's end. Atavist Books helped authors find other publishers for their unpublished works. Despite having produced a handful of creative and visually appealing ebooks, Atavist Books had to close down, marking an end to this bold experiment in digital publishing.
II. Ebooks as apps
John B. Thompson raises a pertinent question about Atavist Books' challenges. He suggests that the technical demands of their approach—requiring readers to download the Atavist app, sign in, and then purchase and read books—may have been overly complicated and deterred potential users. In an era dominated by devices like the iPad, he wonders if it wouldn't be simpler and more effective to develop the book as an app directly available for purchase and download from the App Store.
Various publishers have explored this approach. For instance, a small indie team at Birchtree developed an app for a digital-only publication authored by a young American scientist exploring the future of the internet. The project was unique because the text was written concurrently with the app's development, taking about two months to complete. The Birchtree team designed a non-linear navigation interface and enriched the text with interactive 3D models, videos, images, and other online content.
Priced at £4.99 on the App Store, the app was well-received by the author, who praised Birchtree's developers. However, despite the positive feedback, sales were underwhelming, plateauing at around 1,000 copies. With development costs amounting to £20,000 and revenues after Apple's commission totaling less than £4,000, the financial outcome was a substantial loss, not accounting for any fees or royalties paid to the author. This scenario underscores the financial and logistical challenges facing digital publications in app form.
Around the same time as the previous example, a different scenario unfolded with one of the commercial imprints at a UK-based publishing house. This project involved a well-known scientist who was recognized for his popular science books. His latest work was a richly illustrated book designed to demonstrate how science can elucidate natural phenomena to young readers. The publisher opted to collaborate with 'Phantom,' an agency known for working across various platforms and industries, which also boasted an in-house team of app developers.
Phantom was informed that the budget for the app was set at £40,000, which was considerably lower than what they would typically require—normally, they would expect at least double that amount to develop an app of the proposed complexity. However, attracted by the project and seeing potential benefits in fostering a relationship with publishers, Phantom agreed to the terms. They decided on a deal where the publisher would cover the production costs with the £40,000, and in return, Phantom would receive a share of the revenues.
With only three months to complete the project, Phantom assigned five full-time staff members and occasionally brought in specialists and freelancers as necessary. They utilized the book's full text and enriched it with custom illustrations, animations, audio, and video clips featuring the author, along with various interactive activities and games. One of the main technical hurdles was integrating large amounts of text with single images, a challenge in the app format where space is limited, especially on a tablet screen in landscape mode. Phantom innovatively addressed this by adopting a parallax effect commonly used in video game design, which allowed different layers of content to move at varying speeds during screen swipes, thereby creating a sense of depth.
Despite the complexities and the need to devise new processes and troubleshoot in real-time, Phantom delivered the app on schedule. It was launched a week after the hardcover edition's release in September 2011, priced at £9.99 and $13.99 in the App Store.
This app was a hit, selling 15,000 to 20,000 copies in the first few months alone. Ultimately, it reached sales of around 35,000 copies, with half of these in North America, a quarter in the UK, and the remaining quarter in other parts of the world. After accounting for Apple's 30% commission, the net revenue stood at approximately £230,000, or $360,000. Given that the production costs were only £40,000, this app turned out to be a substantial commercial success.
The reasons for this success were multifaceted. While the app’s stylish technical design and user-friendly interface certainly played a role, other, more traditional factors were crucial. The timing of the app’s release, aligned with the print book launch, the significant marketing budget allocated for both the book and the app, and a vigorous promotional campaign by the publisher were all pivotal. The author's high international profile and proven track record of successful books also helped drive interest and sales.
The app did not just enhance the book’s content but extended it in innovative ways, yet its success owed much to conventional publishing strategies—without the coordinated release and robust marketing, its impact might have been considerably less.
These examples illustrate a trend towards what could be termed hybrid publishing, where traditional trade publishers, from small indies to large corporate entities, delve into innovative publishing by developing apps. These might be released as standalone products or as enhanced ebooks that rework and enrich text from printed books. In such hybrid publishing, the marriage of innovation and tradition is key. App developers are integral to the creative process, bringing technical expertise and new ideas. However, the initiative and financial investment typically come from the publishers, who are exploring digital formats to gauge market interest and determine the feasibility of further investment.
But is it worthwhile for publishers to invest in creating apps and enhanced ebooks? The financial outcomes from such ventures have been decidedly mixed across the publishing industry. While some projects have achieved significant success, selling upwards of 100,000 to 200,000 copies, many others have not met such high marks, with sales often languishing in the hundreds or low thousands. This disparity has led to skepticism within the industry about the profitability and wisdom of pursuing such digitally augmented publications, especially when they involve merely adding multimedia elements to existing narrative texts.
Evan Schnittman, then Sales Director at Bloomsbury, articulated this skepticism at the 2011 London Book Fair Digital Conference. He argued that attempting to innovate the traditional narrative reading process by integrating digital enhancements—such as audio and interactive elements—often fails to add meaningful value. Schnittman suggested that these efforts could be seen as a nonstarter since the return on investment often does not align with the costs involved in creating these enhanced versions. His comments reflect a broader industry debate about whether the benefits of such digital enhancements justify the significant resources required for their development, particularly when they don’t substantially improve the reading experience or significantly boost sales. This ongoing discussion continues to shape publishers' strategies regarding the integration of digital technology into traditional publishing formats.
III. Touch Press: Mastering the Ebook as App
In his book, John B. Thompson points out that while traditional narrative texts might not benefit significantly from digital enhancements, other types of books—such as cookbooks, travel books, and children's books—present unique opportunities for digital innovation. These genres inherently lend themselves to interactive and multimedia elements that can enrich the reader's experience.
Thompson suggests that instead of merely adding features to existing texts, publishers and developers should reconsider the very concept of what constitutes a book. By starting from scratch—with a clean slate—there's potential to fundamentally rethink how books are designed and interacted with in the digital age. This approach would allow for the exploration of how digital tools and capabilities can be integrated from the outset, rather than retrofitted, to create entirely new types of engaging and informative content.
For example, digital cookbooks could include interactive recipes that allow users to change portion sizes dynamically, watch technique videos, or even participate in cooking classes directly through the book. Travel books could offer virtual tours, up-to-date event information, and interactive maps that engage users more deeply than traditional print could. Children's books might include animations, interactive storytelling, and educational games that make learning more captivating.
A notable instance is Touch Press's venture into digital publishing. Touch Press distinguished itself in digital publishing by positioning itself not just as an app developer, but as a high-end publisher, producing what they considered digital books rather than mere apps. Max Whitby, co-founder of Touch Press, emphasized this distinction: "If you say 'app developer' to someone, they think of a purely technical company that converts books into apps. That’s not what we are."
The origin of Touch Press was almost serendipitous. Max Whitby, formerly a television producer for the BBC, and Theo Gray, a software engineer and author with a deep interest in chemistry living near Chicago, both had a passion for the Periodic Table. Their mutual interest led them to become collaborators after a meeting in 2002. They formed a business centered around the Periodic Table, which they whimsically described as “an empire of the Periodic Table.”
At the time, Theo was collaborating with a software company tasked by Apple to develop some of the iPad's initial software. This collaboration included work on Mathematica, a program Theo had helped develop, which became instrumental in their project. Realizing the potential of the iPad and Mathematica, they envisioned a dynamic app that allowed users to interact with the Periodic Table in innovative ways, such as spinning images of elements with a touch.
Faced with the challenge of developing this app in just sixty days to coincide with the iPad’s launch in April 2010, they used Mathematica to create algorithms for integrating and resizing images to produce interactive spinning effects, and for seamlessly combining these images with text and labels. They also needed to convince Apple that their product was more than just a digital text—it was a new form of ebook that leveraged the iPad's capabilities far beyond those of conventional e-readers like the Kindle, which were limited to static text and had longer battery life but fewer interactive features.
Apple was persuaded by their vision. The app, "The Elements," was completed on time and featured on a select number of iPads provided to journalists before the public launch. The response was overwhelmingly positive, signaling a successful reimagining of what an ebook could be in the digital age.
The launch of Touch Press's app was met with outstanding publicity and immediate success, selling 3,600 copies on its first day at $13.99 and £9.99. It continued to perform well, selling over a million copies globally in fourteen languages, including Japanese, French, and German, and generated more than $3 million in net revenue.
Before the app, Theo had published a book titled The Elements in September 2009 with Black Dog & Leventhal, a small New York publisher. The book, translated into several languages, had sold about 70,000 copies across all languages. However, following the release of the app, sales of the print book surged, eventually exceeding 580,000 copies worldwide. This dual success in both app and print formats marked a spectacular achievement.
The success of The Elements app played a crucial role in the foundation of Touch Press in the summer of 2010. The company launched shortly after the app's release, raising about half a million dollars, partly from two angel investors. Touch Press positioned itself not just as an app developer but as a new kind of publisher, pioneering the concept of the book-as-app.
Despite strong technical skills and audio-visual expertise—bolstered by Max’s background in television—Touch Press lacked depth in traditional publishing experience. None of the principals had direct book publishing experience; Theo’s understanding came from his limited interaction with a small trade publisher. Moreover, apart from The Elements, they did not possess the intellectual property typically held by established publishers, nor did they have experience managing relationships with authors and agents. This gap led them to partner with various organizations to develop new projects.
Their collaborators ranged from traditional publishers like Faber, HarperCollins, and the University of Chicago Press, to TV production companies and classical music organizations. Among these, the partnership with Faber was particularly successful, producing several acclaimed books-as-apps like Solar System, T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, and Shakespeare’s Sonnets. The Waste Land app, for instance, transformed Eliot’s seminal work by allowing users to experience the poem through multiple readings, including recordings by Eliot himself, and an innovative performance by Fiona Shaw. It also included a vast array of notes and commentaries accessible at a touch, enriching the reader's engagement with the text. This app not only reached the top position among worldwide bestselling book apps but also garnered glowing reviews.
Touch Press exemplified the potential of apps to revitalize and expand the scope of traditional texts by integrating audio-visual elements, offering a user experience unattainable with print alone. Their high-quality, premium apps set them apart in the digital publishing space, consistently earning spots as App of the Week and Editor’s Choice in the App Store and receiving widespread critical acclaim. In a burgeoning field with diverse participants, from solo developers to large publishers experimenting with app formats, Touch Press distinguished itself as a leader in creating premium digital experiences.
But questions about the long-term sustainability of their creative enterprise lingered. They faced the critical issue of whether their business model could consistently succeed. For every successful app like The Elements or Solar System, there were others that faltered, selling disappointingly low volumes. Developing such premium apps involved considerable investment, and the financial returns from unsuccessful projects posed significant risks for the small company. Success in this business required a steady stream of hits to maintain profitability.
By 2012, Touch Press was at a crucial juncture, as their initial funding was dwindling. They had raised half a million dollars in 2010 and an additional £2 million subsequently, propelling the company forward. However, by late 2012, they needed to reassess their viability in the face of depleting resources.
At this pivotal moment, an exciting opportunity arose from an unexpected quarter. Impressed by Touch Press’s The Waste Land app, senior executives at Disney approached them to develop an app chronicling the history of animation. This project seemed ideally suited to the app medium—a richly illustrated exploration of animation history with Disney, a cornerstone of the industry and holder of an extensive archive of beloved characters and films. This collaboration promised not only creative alignment but also significant marketing support from one of the world’s most powerful entertainment brands.
Touch Press partnered with Walt Disney Animation Studios in the autumn of 2012, and by December, they were deeply engaged in the project. Approximately ten Touch Press staff members, along with a team from Disney, dedicated eight months to developing the app. The budget was a substantial £400,000, with Theo acting as the author, integrating the text with dynamic visual content. The app allowed users to interact with animation history, bringing characters to life and offering insights into animation techniques through interactive features.
Launched on August 8, 2013, at $13.99, the app coincided with the D23 Expo, garnering immediate attention and achieving Editor’s Choice on Apple’s App Store. This visibility sparked a surge in initial sales, which, while tapering off typically after release, revived dramatically when Disney Animated was named Apple’s iPad App of the Year on December 16. The announcement spurred another sales spike, lasting through the end of December.
Disney Animated also won numerous accolades, including Best App in the Academic/Reference category at the 2014 Digital Book Awards and a Children’s BAFTA for Interactive: Adapted. This slew of awards underscored the app’s exceptional reception and critical acclaim, marking it as a standout success in the realm of digital publishing.
Yet, despite the high quality of its apps, Touch Press faced significant commercial challenges with Disney Animated. To cover the costs and make a substantial financial contribution to the company, they needed to sell at least 100,000 copies of the app, with targets of up to 300,000 to 500,000 copies to truly impact their bottom line. Although the app sold well, it did not meet these ambitious sales goals, raising doubts about the viability of producing premium apps as a sustainable business model.
"Disney Animated was a critical litmus test for us," Max explained. "It was a beautifully produced app that we put our hearts into. It was about a subject that has a broad appeal, supported by Disney’s massive marketing influence. Yet, it only sold 70,000 units in the first few months. This outcome has forced us to reconsider our business model."
The challenges were compounded by the evolving dynamics of the app market. When The Elements was released, it was a novelty—an app that truly showcased what the iPad could do, at a time when the App Store was not as saturated. By January 2015, however, the App Store offered over 1.4 million apps, with 40,000-50,000 new apps added monthly. The vast majority of these apps were free, following the 'freemium' model, and most paid apps were priced at the lowest points—99¢ making up nearly half of all paid apps, and $1.99 apps nearly another fifth. With such a pricing model, convincing consumers to pay $13.99 for an app was increasingly difficult.
Touch Press faced two significant hurdles: visibility and pricing. The "discoverability" problem in such a saturated market was daunting. Launching an app in the App Store, where Apple controls which apps are featured and where tens of thousands of new apps are added monthly, meant that even getting noticed was a massive challenge. This visibility issue was far greater than anything faced by traditional book publishers, despite their concerns about the decreasing number of physical bookstores.
Furthermore, the prevalent low pricing of most apps made it challenging to justify a higher price point for a premium product like Disney Animated. The consumer's risk perception—reluctance to pay a substantial amount for an app that might not meet expectations—was a significant barrier.
Even with the considerable advantages of a partnership with Disney, Touch Press found it impossible to generate sufficient revenue to cover their high production costs and sustain the business. After rigorously testing their business model with Disney Animated, Max concluded, "We tested the model exquisitely well, and it doesn’t work." This realization marked a pivotal moment for Touch Press, highlighting the intrinsic challenges of producing and selling premium apps in a market driven by low-cost and free alternatives.
Faced with mounting challenges, Touch Press had to consider their future direction. One option was to downscale—reduce staff, cut costs, and produce lower-quality apps at a cheaper price. However, to Max and Theo, this approach seemed like conceding defeat. They had founded Touch Press with a vision to innovate publishing and create a new kind of book—the book-as-app—that provided a rich multimedia experience. Scaling back would compromise their ability to produce the high-quality apps that had become their hallmark. They realized that making minor cost adjustments could save some expenses, perhaps 10 to 20 percent, but more significant cuts would dilute the quality that defined their brand. Producing lower-end apps that merely functioned without offering aesthetic value was not the path they wanted to pursue, and it risked alienating their top talent.
Another strategy was to pivot the business model towards agency work, leveraging their technical expertise to provide app development services for other companies looking to enhance their brand or promote products. This shift could potentially offer substantial revenue with good profit margins, especially if they could negotiate fees well above their production costs. They could capitalize on their reputation as premium app developers to transform Touch Press into a profitable enterprise. However, this route would likely sacrifice their creative autonomy, as client-driven projects often come with strict demands and adherence to the client's vision, leaving little room for the kind of innovative work that produced apps like The Waste Land.
By 2014, the urgency to act became apparent as continuing their current operations without change was unsustainable. The Board decided to bring in a new CEO with a strong background in business development, tasked with steering the company towards profitability. The company relocated to a stylish office in central London, rebranded itself from Touch Press to touchpress, and intensified efforts to expand the agency side of the business. However, relationships between the original founders and the new management began to strain. Max resigned from the Board, and both he and Theo shifted their focus to other projects.
The agency business model did not succeed for the rebranded touchpress, and by early 2016, the company faced serious financial difficulties. The new CEO was dismissed, and the company’s portfolio of science and literature apps was sold to a new venture, Touch Press Inc., formed through a collaboration between Irish digital publisher StoryToys and educational games specialist Amplify Games. This new entity, rebranded as Amphio, announced a focus on developing interactive tools and content for educational and cultural institutions.
This marked the end of Touch Press’s ambitious venture to redefine publishing with beautifully crafted apps for the consumer market, fully leveraging the iPad's technological capabilities. The journey concluded with a shift toward a more focused and sustainable business model oriented toward educational and institutional applications.
IV. Final Autopsy: The False Dawn of the Digital Revolution
From 2010 to 2015, the publishing industry experienced a surge of innovative ventures propelled by the digital revolution, each aiming to redefine what a book could be in the digital age. Touch Press stood out as one of the most original and ambitious players in this arena, but they were part of a larger movement exploring the expansive potential of digital books.
The notion of "re-inventing the book" varied widely among these ventures. For some, it involved altering the conventional length of books—moving away from the traditional constraints that dictate a book must be of a certain length to justify a print run. This freedom gave rise to formats like the e-single or digital short, compact works designed for quick consumption.
For others, the re-invention was more profound. It involved rethinking the book as a dynamic digital experience rather than merely transferring static print texts onto screens. This vision embraced the full spectrum of digital capabilities to transform the very essence of what a book is. These books were not static but fluid, transforming readers into active participants in the narrative, making the story come alive in ways impossible in print.
However, the transition to these groundbreaking formats was fraught with challenges more complex than just conceptualizing and creating them. The primary hurdle was not the lack of creative ideas or technological ability, which were abundantly demonstrated in numerous projects during this period. Instead, it was the difficulty in establishing a sustainable business model and organizational structure that could support the continuous production of these innovative digital works.
Despite the initial excitement and the successful launch of several notable digital books, many of these ventures struggled to find a lasting foothold. The economic viability of these projects proved elusive, as the market dynamics shifted and the novelty of digital experiments met the harsh realities of consumer economics. Many ventures could not sustain sufficient revenue to support their operations long-term. Initial successes often gave way to financial pressures, leading to the closure of many promising startups.
This period of intense creativity highlighted the complex interplay between innovation and market viability. The promise of a digital revolution transforming the book industry into something new gradually gave way to the recognition that creating a new form of the book was more daunting than simply introducing a new format. As the excitement waned, the industry faced the reality that the dawn of a radical redefinition of the book might indeed be more of a false start, marked by as many endings as beginnings.
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