I'm Back!

Well, its been a very long time since I posted on this blog and to be honest I've really missed it. I guess I'm one of those people who need to share his ideas and to make contact with the outside world.

I've been working for about 7 months now on a start-up, FlyingWord, that is focused on the development of enhanced books for the Apple app store. We've released a couple of books including Treasure Island, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, and A Christmas Treasury.

My over all feeling about these books is a bit mixed. I'm proud of the fact that we were able to produce them, get them on the app store, and enjoy some healthy sales. But, I've never been pleased with the outcome. Most people like them and our customer rattings are good but I can't help but feel that we could have done a lot better. This is probably common among folks creating anything. I know that every time I wrote a book I always thought it could be a lot better.

I've been watching the app book industry expand as new players like myself enter the market, offer their best efforts, and then wait to see how the market reacts. Some folks have outstanding marketing and produce so-so books. Others have fantastic books and no marketing. The later seems to be more sustainable in my opinion. Obviously, having great apps and great marketing is ideal but its hard enough to do one or the other let alone doing both.

As for me: I would rather create a beautiful book that enjoys moderate success than a mediocre book that is a landslide success. I'm a creative and I'm never statisifed with anything unless its beautiful and elegant; to be honest I don't achieve that benchmark very often. Never statisifed; that's me.

So looking forward I want to take the time to create absolutely beautiful and fantastically useful books. One thing I'm interested in is creating books that actually help people with learning disabilities to read. I had a meeting the other day with a woman who specializes in assistive technologies for people with dyslexia. It became quickly apparent to me that the an app book might be the perfect vehicle to get people with dyslexia, who tend to avoid reading for the most part, to read and enjoy the experience. Give them something fun and interactive but with features that help them with reading and I think we can change the lives of these people dramatically.

Sadly what I've seen in the assistive reading software is really horrible. I mean the mechanisms by which they assist readers are very nice but the applications themselves are horrible to look at and the content is pretty ugly. No pictures, poor typesetting, nothing that says, "Hey, read this book because you'll love the experience." I would like to change that.

So whats holding me up? Well, I have to put food on the table for one thing. Creating app books that help grown ups and young adults read better is not a very sexy technology. Venture capitalists don't want to help people; they want to make money now. As a friend told me once, a venture capitalist wants to put 50 cents in the top slot and be assured that $5 will pop out the bottom slot as quickly as possible. So unless you have a sure thing, no one is interested. I can't blame them. I just wish there was a group of investors that lead with their hearts rather than their wallets.