Last week I gave a short presentation to the Arizona Book Publishers Association. They had asked me to give a Voice Of Experience talk on 3D ebooks as a warm up to the main event Dr. Pamela Goodfellow’s “Leap to the Next Level” presentation. She was to cover the history of publishing, the evolving role of publishers and the opportunity for Arizona publishers to become more prominent in the literary world.

I immediately grabbed my laptop and created a 3D ebook to demonstrate and explain the technology. I also made a powerpoint slide stating the five things I wanted the audience to take away from my presentation:

1. Paper Based Reading Devices will continue to dominate the market
2. Desktop Author has a superior business model for selling 3D ebooks
3. Flip Publisher provides a superior presentation
4. The MAC platform is not yet supported by either of these products
5. 3D ebooks are an excellent marketing tool

My message was simple, while the experience of reading a hardcopy book or a magazine can be simulated on a digital device, it will NEVER be duplicated. However, the additional experiences available to those reading on a digital device cannot even be simulated on paper.

After I delivered my message, coincidentally, (and I don’t believe in coincidence) Dr. Goodfellow gave her talk, quite literally, with no handouts, no digital imagery, not even a microphone. She spoke to us. Her imagery and message came from her words alone.

The two experiences were completely different, yet each earned a place in the open minds of the audience.

When it’s time to tell your story just tell it the best way you know how. After that any good publisher can (and should) be able to reformat it and increase your appeal to those who prefer one way of recieving information over another.