TED Conferences will now sell its e-books through a newly released application for iOS devices.
TED e-books have already been available on the Kindle, Nook and iBook platforms, but the app is positioned as a new multimedia venture. While the app is initially iOS only, an Android app is reportedly in the works.
The app, TED Books, offers e-books for $2.99 each, while also offering a subscription option which gives the user three months' access for $14.99 (this includes a new book every two weeks). For the first 90 days, the subscription offer will also include full access to the back catalogue of existing TED e-books.
The app uses the existing Atavist platform (a long-form journalism start-up, known for its interactive interface). Features of the platform include embedded multimedia, timelines, in-app links and in-line footnotes. Users can also opt to turn off all multimedia features in favour of plain text. Readers can also leave comments at the end of a book.
TED says: “A TED Book is to a book as a TEDTalk is to a lecture: it's shorter and more personal, more direct and engaging.
TED Books are fewer than 20 000 words, and are intended for easy reading during a flight or commute.
“We created this imprint because new e-book technologies like Kindle and iPad have changed the rules of the game. Just as iTunes allowed people to build new listening habits around individual music tracks instead of albums, so the new reading technologies allow instant distribution of books of any length - facilitating new, more focused reading habits.”
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