Multimedia Case 4 Atavist

Multimedia Case 4 Atavist

1. Introduction

• Founders hoped to create ‘born-digital’ content that was fundamentally distinct from print media

• Market for enhanced content had been slow to develop, leading them to largely depend on sales of unenhanced stories.

2. The idea for Atavist

• Publishing long narrative nonfiction stories

 With enhancements such as videos, audio recordings, photographs, character bios, and timelines

 Gave the readers multiple layers of information in the narrative

3. Technology and Design

• An enhanced version delivered through their own app on the iPhone/iPad and an unenhanced version that could be read on the Kindle or Nook.

• Achieve a subtle balance - the enhancements had to be integral to the story and improve the reader’s experience, but at the same time the text-only version could not feel like it was missing something

• Build something that satisfies reader’s expectation

4. The launch

5. The publishing process

• Process of identifying a story was guided by the founders’ tacit understanding of what Atavist stood for

• Different contract and pays for different types of writer

• Writers takes up few months to investigate -> First draft -> sent for fact checking -> appropriate pictures to augment the story -> recorded audio of the author for the story

6. Marketing and distribution

• Providing book previews (first serial) on targeted websites

• Revenue-sharing agreement with authors created incentives for them to spread the word about their stories

• Majority of Atavist’s sales from the unenhanced versions of their stories

 Enhanced stories faced both economic and technical hurdles (high cost)

 Potential technical compatibility problems: compatibility issues with other devices or apps

 Innovative elements designed (audiobook, characters, maps, timelines) were not transferrable given the limited capabilities of those formats.

7. Licensing the software

• Periodic technology (custom content management system – CMS) –available for licensing

 Anyone can use it – does not require programming expertise

 Multidimensional storytelling

 One-click publishing to multiple platforms

 You control the reading experience

 Update/expand/change your content dynamically

 Flexible plug-in architecture

 Import from whatever software you work in

 Hook directly into your existing CMS

 Analytics

• Problems:

 Actually signing up licensing clients took longer than expected

 Other companies interested in the software hailed from a wide range of publishing formats

8. The publishing industry

• Biggest competitor – Amazon Kindle

 Kindle allowed for wireless shopping and downloading of books from Amazon

 Broader range of content – ebooks, digital versions of newspapers and magazines

 Sold more ebooks

• Google, Barnes and Noble, Borders

• Publishers were concerned about the implications of digital technology but also excited about the opportunities