Bells And Whistles

Posted by Kimber Chin in Contemporary Romance, Kimber Chin

3 comments

I attended a book camp on Saturday (it was FABULOUS!). One of the recurring topics was the inclusion of extra features within eBooks. Participants were split between two groups of people.

One group felt that eBooks would soon become more than simply text on a digital page. A literary agent admitted that she doesn't negotiate that hard over eBook rights as she felt eBooks, as we know them, wouldn't be around for long. As soon as a hyperlink or extra feature is added to an eBook, it fell within multi-media copyright. THOSE rights, she'll fight tooth and nail for.

The opposing group felt that readers wanted story only. A representative from Random House pointed to the statistics from past 'fully loaded' fiction eBook launches. She said that the extra features were used by a teeny, tiny slice of the readership. Most readers preferred to read the text story only. They weren't interested in the links to websites or embedded video or other bells and whistles.

I'm in the second camp. When I buy a romance novel, I only want the romance novel. I don't want videos popping up in the middle of a passionate love scene or a hyperlink in the middle of that snappy dialogue or even a photo to show me what the hero looks like (all heroes, in my mind, look like my hubby). It draws me out of the story. If I'm interested in extra features, I'll go to the author's website and snoop around there.

What camp are you in? Do you like extra features in your eBooks?

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Kimber Chin writes contemporary romances set in the sexy world of business. Her latest novel, Flawless, is the love story of a killer. To read more about Kimber Chin’s novels, please visit http://businessromance.com/