Here's the most recent flyer and cover letter regarding the e-Storybook
OOPS... I only have PDFs. I'll post them after I convert them to JPG.
Updated 5/19
The e-Storybook was fully designed using the format shown here. As you can see the format shown here is the first generation of the layout. The published editions of the Gnome-sized and Big People Books are more refined than this design. It is likely that I will carry the newer design over to the revamped e-Storybook format. The e-Storybook will need to change from this view, a vertical or portrait view, to a horizontal or landscape view.
The change to the landscape format is needed to match the current aspect ratio of the cinema & television screens. I want people to be able to send the Storybook up to their large viewing screen, so that kids will have an easier time of joining in together to see the material as a group. But also, we plan on creating animations to be part of the Storybook and I most certainly think it is essential that the aspect ration match what has become the standard for films & television. As I have said before, it is my intention to produce the larger film by creating a composite of smaller films that link together. I'll discuss that elsewhere under the subject of Cinema.
The animations are expected to start out as "music videos" of the songs in the show, but eventually become representations of the scenes. It occurs to me that as a storytelling book, we could have links to storytelling videos, but that might defeat the purpose of having adults participating with kids in a storytelling session. Maybe if we added that later that could be part of a television presentation.
All this means that the thoughts previously posted on this subject will contain outdated references. I will edit out the worst of it.
AG
I've placed the previous content of this post under the category Archive below. So in the future, I will maintain the subject headings of the posts and shift the edited content down under the heading of Archive. That way we can keep the viable thoughts within the post for reference purposes.
ARCHIVE
2014
I have been preparing the e-storybook for release to selected individuals and organizations. What that means is that the entire layout needs to be correct and functional as a PDF based e-book.
DELETED CONTENT ...
So, preparing the e-storybook has been a matter of changing the page background on all the files. This is because, while publishing the Gnome-sized Book, I made small changes to the layout that helped to make the smaller books to have a bit more punch and clarity. Of course, those changes were made only on the Gnome-sized Book, which had different specifications than the other editions.
After finishing the Business Plan, which really needs more attention, but is sufficient for present requirements, I moved to working further on the Score. That aspect of this project requires quite a bit more work, but a great deal has already been done in that regard. Because of the intensity of that type of work, but also because of the demands of other work that is progressing, I shifted off of the score in lieu of finishing the e-Storybook.
Even though the Illustrations for the Storybook are not yet complete, a large part of the entire set of books is illustrated. So, I decided to advance all other aspects of the publishing work, setting up, both the published books and the e-Storybook to be ready for production and release, with only placement of the illustration panels needed to be done. The space has already been allotted for the illustrations, by defining the panels within the page layout.
I think this is a good approach to finishing the publishing, hard copy and digital, because moving forward with the illustrations is also moving forward with the animations, and having the publishing mechanicals out of the way is a good thing.
Now, addressing release of the e-storybook; I need to be able to implement DRM and lock the files so that they cannot be copied, printed or disseminated in any unauthorized fashion. The last thing we want is to have the materials distributed on the internet for free. It has cost a small fortune to develop this material and we need to recoup those expenditures and then some. Producing the show will not be inexpensive and we need to assure the value of the project and create income. So that is an issue in releasing the e-storybook. But I have to say that it looks really great, both on a smartphone and an e-pad.
As it stands now, I doubt that we will be able to distribute the product by way of a download. You would think that wouldn't be a problem, but the files have become extremely large because they are heavily laden with artwork. I've tried compressed files, but they don't look nearly as good as the larger files and that is unacceptable.
I believe that the digital product will be primarily distributed as "Gnomes in a Gnutshell" because the Micro SD is a good medium for delivery. It works really well with most phone & pads, with the exception of the Apple i-Phone and i-Pad, because they don't us a Micro SD. If you ask me that is a serious flaw in the Apple products.
Added Note: The ultimate delivery medium will be determined after the new edition of the e-Storybook has been completed. It is likely that by the time that happens, new technology will be in place. So it is best to delay conclusion on that matter until the finished product has been confirmed. I have found that the improvements in the design have also brought difficulties with formats and presentation. So...
I am reformatting some of the components and trying to develop a methods where multiple files will work continuously in synchronization, without difficulty for the end user, while allowing for upgrades. It's not easy.
AG
