Going from finished book to online and interactive book

[simon5CD0]

I have a finished textbook ready for print, but I want to create an online/interactive book also. The question for me now is how to go about doing this. Looking through old threads here I didn't find a clear solution.

Fundamentally I see two options: 1) keeping the current structure, 2) set up the chapters to be one long text for the reader to scroll through instead of going to the next page.

I have a preview for my website made with the flipbook plugin for WordPress and I think that works very well. But that's for a preview. For actual reading, I'm not sure which option would work best.

Are there any good - and not too complicated - solutions for turning my book into an online book?

[Derek Cross]

It depends on how interactive you want the book to be, whether you want to monetise it, whether you want it to be able to be read on a small screen, such as a tablet or smartphone. The easiest solution is single page continuus PDF.

Other options include,  (a third-party PDF facility e.g. https://www.paperturn.com/uk/ ) FXL ePub, Reflowable ePub, InDesign's Publish Online, in5 (the InDesign plug-in at extra cost).

[simon5CD0]

Thank you!
It should be monetized, probably by every student having their own login to the website giving them access to the entire book.
Interactivity: I probably only need a hover effect (to have a little pop-up window explain certain words) and the ability to link to other chapters/paragraphs.

Devices: I think it should be readable on both laptop and tablet since students will probably use both. 

It's a bit difficult to judge which solution to go with here

[Derek Cross]

Have a look at in5: https://ajarproductions.com

[simon5CD0]

Thanks, I have downloaded their trial. 
Do you know if I would be paying only for the period where I am creating/editing the content or if I need an ongoing subscription for as long as the content is up and running? 

[Derek Cross]

The product you produce is yours. Have a look at their Academy to see samples and training videos.

[JonathanArias]

You can make your file, publish, cancel subscription and the files will work, yes. 

a smooth scrolling frame is the feature you want want if you want a smaller page size, or can also make it a long page to scroll. You mentioned not switching pages? 

[simon5CD0]

Hi Jonathan

Thanks for the clarification. 
I have an example on this link where I show the preview of my book: Om bogen – Forlaget De Facto
So what I mean is I'm not sure if I should do something like that with just some hover effects and links added, or change it to a continuous text - a bit like long-read newspaper articles where you just scroll all the way.

[BobLevine]

My advice: Stick with the PDF and Real 3D Flipbook for WordPress. Stick with the 2D effects, though.

[BobLevine]

For a book, that's insanity.

[simon5CD0]

Maybe I should have been more specific. I of course mean to separate it into its chapters and only scroll through each of them. I agree the whole book in one would be a mess.

The one big plus with a solution like what I use for the preview is that it's very easy for me. And I'm guessing it will work with a simple interactive pdf with just a few effects like I mentioned previously.

The potential minus I guess is that readers could prefer the continuous format. 

[Derek Cross]

Yes,  a simple Interactive PDF is a good solution but drop the idea of the hover effect and keep to simple hyperlinks, no multi-state buttons, for example.

[simon5CD0]

When you make these suggestions, is that because of stability/load times?
I think these functions will make the product seem more interactive - I guess I don't want the reader to feel like this is simply the pdf but online but an actual interactive book.
I have seen one implementation (think it was custom made) where this hover effect worked very well and which also had the ability for users to make notes to certain parts of the text that was then permanently stored for them. 

[Derek Cross]

As I said right from the beginning, PDF is an easy format to produce from InDesign and a PDF can be read on any device, but the interactivity is very limited. I suggest you don't try to be too ambitious with a PDF version as you'll probably be disappointed. Remember you can't do things with an Interactive PDF that you use to be able to do.