Interactive Ebooks!

Have you ever loved a story so much that you wanted to visit the place where it happened? Have you been so involved in a scene that you felt like you were really there?

Well, a new innovation means you almost can be there - almost. When an ebook's tale is set in a particular place - a cafe, a theatre, an historic location, a bowling alley etc., - then readers can click a link to learn more about the factual place.

This opens up a new angle in virtual tourism, which could potentially result in readers of a story booking into a hotel or diner where their fictional heroes stayed. So what we have here is another way of writers gaining an income. Just as sports people are sponsored to wear trade logos, then why couldn't writers be sponsored to include linked-to places/businesses in their ebooks? The principles are fairly similar.

Blind Fate by Patrick Brian Miller and Dixie Noir by Kirk Curnutt are the first of these innovative ebooks to be published on Kindle (which can also be read on an ordinary PC, smart phone or tablet).

Personally I think it's a great idea so long as the inserted advertising doesn't spoil the story.

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