We invited our first beta testers in this week. Celebrate!
Of course, we couldn’t do this until we finished the patent work, engineered some marketing pieces, and got our email newsletter service together. Now, time to kick back and read. Right?
I know we’ve been a little silent over here at BG HQ, but we’re really had our heads down trying to resolve the last few bugs standing in our way of private beta. Beyond fixing up the code, patent work and other tedious business-type housekeeping has filled our days from dawn to dusk. You may have noticed the site itself is ready for beta, what with the new login page and all, and we’re going to be rolling people in slowly. But there are a few tweaks that need to be made first, particularly with reading groups, and we’re figuring on about two weeks worth of changes before the beta emails start going out…although I’d love to be pleasantly surprised…
The BG team has been working through a number of bugs on the upload tool. Conversion from anything –> epub is a struggle, but we’ve got a pretty good product so far. It’s basically just working out all the kinks that takes some time. I’m sure the private beta folks will uncover more inconsistencies…but we’re pretty close! Now, back to ironing out the last flaws in our shared annotations. Private Beta Launch is imminent!
Like most of the world, we were disappointed to hear that Amazon isn’t going to commit to the epub standard for its new hardware device. Lack of standards will obviously hinder adoption among users and create strife with publishers.
We were, however, relieved that the new reader, called the Kindle, will have some kind of browser and wireless access, as well as a keyboard. Our information on this is fuzzy, but since BookGlutton is browser-based, it could be possible to read and discuss on the BG site via Amazon’s device. Cool.
Speaking of the epub standard, BookGlutton’s upload feature allows users to save out an epub format of their work. We’re still tweaking it, but we’d like people to be able to upload their work to variety of places, not just our site, so in addition to uploading it at BG you can download a fairly standards-compliant file and share it with others. The more exposure a writer gets, the better the chances of fame and fortune (or at least some decent feedback). Being writers ourselves we wanted to adhere to the standard and see if we could allow our users intermingle with Digital Editions, or anyone else who’s taking a crack at standards compliance.
Aaron Miller and I (Travis Alber – the main blogger around here) are the BookGlutton co-founders. We concepted BG in October 06, and started working full time on the company last January. Here’s a rundown of who we are and what we’ve done. For now you can contact us at prelaunch [AT] bookglutton.com if you’d like to say hello…
Aaron Miller
Aaron Miller is a writer and web developer with more than eleven years experience online, and that’s not even counting his 1986 BBS endeavors. His first love has always been writing, but the designer and typographer in him have always led him toward the more technical aspects of screen presentation. Professionally he’s worked on both the creative and technical sides of projects—working at times as a writer and designer and at others a developer in San Francisco and LA. His clients include Wells Fargo, Organic, and Driving Media. In addition, Aaron has a Master’s Degree in Interactive Multimedia and an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Irvine. Aaron’s a BookGlutton co-founder; his most important role has been as CTO, managing the architecture and development of the entire project.
Travis Alber
Travis Alber has eleven years of on-line experience and a penchant for big ideas. She’s worked in web design, advertising, online training and education and has a Masters Degree in Interactive Multimedia. Her project roles run the gamut, from interactive designer and information architect to project manager and creative director. Her client history includes: Cisco, Sprint, Playstation, Wells Fargo, Macys, Midway Games and Dodge. In addition, Travis had won a number of awards for her interactive art, and has been recognized by Drunken Boat, The Flash Forward Film Festival, and the Electronic Literature Organization. Her work as a digital artist focuses on experimental narrative forms, photography, time, and the search for a sense of place. Travis is a BookGlutton co-founder; her most important role has been as Chief Creative Officer, creating the look and feel for the web site and the Reader, and managing marketing and communications.
I did something unheard of in my house this weekend – I got rid of a book. It was a battered old paperback, probably an obvious choice for replacement. But that’s not why I tossed it. I got rid of it because I found I couldn’t read it. Surviving a mid-90’s Dreiser-Lewis seminar required putting my mark all over it, and you couldn’t look at the thing without getting distracted. I underlined every good sentence, valuable piece of information, or integral plot turn. I did all this in case I ever needed to search for something, particularly in class. And it worked. I could find almost any paragraph I needed to quote from, and fast. But ten years later I have little need for that level of search – I really just want to sit down and read the thing.
So what do most ebook readers want to do? Does everyone need to search and catalog a laundry list of details, or are there others, like me, that just want to read and discuss? UCD (user-centered design) is terribly important in website development, and to design around a user you need to define who she is. Goal-driven readers like researchers, writers and scholars will naturally want to dig around for specific information. That’s valuable. But it’s questionable whether the average reader cares if she has a robust search function. I’m pretty sure she needs a bookmark, and the ability to make notes. She’ll probably want something that looks nice. But when it comes to search I often wonder if developers throw it in there just because it seems like something you’d expect from a computer, rather than something that’s highest on the list.
We didn’t put embedded search in our list of core features for Bookglutton Launch, although you can search the catalog, and we’ll be adding additional search features over time. But sometimes the assumption that search tops the ebook features list strikes me the same way rear windshield wipers on cars do – nice to have but not something I really need.
Over the weekend we were delighted to read David Rothman’s blog. He’s reflecting (and influencing) the rising tide of discussion concerning interactivity and ebooks. More and more, people discuss the possibility of shared annotations and book-based communities, and look to those traits to deliver the next generation of online reading. Just this weekend Rothman’s Teleblog posted:
Instead of just regarding e-books and the Net as marketing mechanisms, writers need to think of them both as settings for conversations—platforms for genuine communities of fans…
One of the reasons that BookGlutton is launching a web-based ebook reader has to do with its firm commitment to community. We think that community discussion, upload capability, and intelligent design are all indispensable pieces of the ebook puzzle. Naturally, building something that handles good-looking, reflowable text and still manages all the technical bells and whistles is a tall order, and probably explains why we had to reevaluate our launch date by a month. 🙂 But we’re undeterred. More than that, actually. We’re terribly excited to get this thing out there and see what people think.
It probably goes without saying that tightly integrating a community and a book is a challenge. There are an infinite number of reader-types and just as many reader-preferences. But we think we’ve come up with a solution that is satisfying to use. It can let the community in or out at any time. It’s pleasant to look at. It’s fun to use. It may not be for everyone, but it is different, and that’s the most exciting part.
Where’s BG been? We haven’t posted since our Beta Launch Party…so what’s the deal? I know, I know. We’re supposed to be pushing the Private Beta live any moment. And that’s true – we’re very, very close. August brought us a few surprises, though (and what would a launch schedule be without surprises?).
Mid-August we moved to a new location. This is probably good, since I was waking up thinking about bug resolution, with the to-do list fully formed in my head before my butt hit the seat. But moving = chaos, and it’s been reflected in the schedule. There’s the planning, packing, unpacking, and, of course, setting up our bookshelves (a full, indulgent afternoon, you know). Anyway, we’re back at our desks now. Those of you eagerly awaiting your beta testing access should get it within the first two weeks of September. Now…back to work.
BOOK GLUTTON BETA Launch Party
We’re having a BG Beta Launch Party this weekend — and what would a party be without a cake? A book-cake, no less?
In actuality the site is still about 2 weeks away from Private Beta, but it seemed like a good time to cut loose, drink mojitios, and stand back and talk with those who have ridden the rollercoaster with us the last nine months.
The site is looking excellent and working (mostly), so we’re all in good spirits at BG HQ.
Thanks to David Rothman for the write up on TeleBlog — the definitive e-book information source. He and Aaron have been corresponding over standards lately, so we shared a little bit of info about the Unbound Reader last week.
Here’s a link to the article: http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6778
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