Jim Bonner, co-founder of ebook publisher Enhanced Editions, is adamant about the future of publishing. "Books need to be taken online in order to make them relevant to the needs and expectations of digital consumers. That's the role of publishing in the 21st century and that's where we want to go," he says.
Seeing the opportunity of Apple's iPhone as a multimedia device and its App Store as a distribution channel, Bonner and his co-founders decided to make reading software that would offer consumers a totally different reading experience.
Having looked at the Kindle—"which is effectively books rendered digitally"—Bonner wanted to start with a blank page and redefine what we mean by a book. The company's innovative apps combine text and audio with added features such as video and an RSS news feed which has updates on books, authors, reviews and articles.
Its first book app, published in September 2009, The Death of Bunny Munro by singer-songwriter Nick Cave, features a soundtrack written by Cave. "You don't usually add soundtracks to books. We do. But this is just the start, we are limited only by our imaginations," says Bonner.
It took Enhanced Editions a year to produce its first ebook. Now the company's list has grown to 20. Currently only available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Bonner explains the app stores for other phones "aren't quite there yet".
The focus for this year is new children's books and further innovation. "We want to be the leading publisher for the digital age," says Bonner.
