Enhanced eBooks are driving eBooks in a different direction. They are putting a new twist on the written word. This may be a new term for many of you yet the term has been around for several months. The verdict is out on whether it will gain momentum or simply change to be more palatable to the avid reader. Other names you may hear them called are Vooks or ebookapps.

Multimedia is showing up and seemingly changing the way many industries market and publish. The verdict is still out on whether this phenomenon with enhanced eBooks will go on or even survive the ever-changing vortex of electronic publishing.

Enhanced eBooks will change the market on what most now know as an audio book. Should things continue to evolve an enhanced eBook would have the written word with an audio option. There are only about 1,000 enhanced eBooks on the market today. This format is just in the infancy state, however, they seem to be making some headway.

Let me give you a few examples of what an enhanced eBook is. Explorer’s Code by Kitty Pilgrim is an eBook with five videos showing various locales significant to the story line. A better example might be Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy. Included in the eBook you will find online transcripts, photographs, video and audio interviews.

You can go to Amazon, Kobo or iTunes and find the enhanced eBook ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ and purchase it for a special price of $2.99 until Nov. 16. The paperback version sells for $11.99.

Industry trends are showing different price points for the four different formats. One could purchase a book: hardcover or paperback, standard eBook, audio book and now enhanced eBook. With this wide range of price points no one is held hostage. Bloggers seem to be criticizing this new addition. They see it as a way to get more money out of a reader. What most bloggers have failed to do is their research. Enhanced eBooks are not always the most expensive especially when you realize that hard cover books often are complimented by CDs, charts and maps. So the concept behind the enhanced eBook is not new.

eBook readers or eBook reader APPs are the future. I see the logical place for these enhanced eBooks for many reasons, yet change is never easy. We are currently writing an APP, which in reality, is an enhanced eBook due to the many interactive components. What better way for a child to learn when what they have read comes to life on the screen, leading them to an interactive lesson plan?

The future looks enhanced...