Living in a world of social media and instant sharing, the travel guide is perceived by many to be a thing of the past. A dinosaur that has been replaced by the instant consumer review and obligatory selfie, denoting both a “this is where we are and this is what we thought” moment for the poster and all their friends. Unfortunately these type of posts and reviews often have no basis of fact or knowledge and can have a detrimental effect as the post spirals out into the cyberspace. However, technology has also delivered a new medium for the travel guide that allows tourism organisations to provide an authoritative platform that showcases a country, a county, a town or an attraction, with consumer interaction and social integration for the reader and user. The modern e-book has a number of benefits.
- It allows us to merge the content and the purpose of a traditional guide book with new technologies, new narrative concepts and dynamic, interactive content through handheld devices such as iPad, iPhone and HTML5.
- It provides a platform that immerses the user and reader into stories, histories, landscape and places by using moving images, animation, sound, photos, live interviews, samples of experiences, Q & As , educational content , booking of meals, accommodation and experiences . All connected to one particular story, place, incident and institution or networks that are aligned to themes, places, events and institutions.
There are also a number of benefits for the tourism organisation that allows the right content to be distributed through multiple channels. Just some of the benefits are;
- Replaces the physical book
- No printing cost
- No physical distribution
- Easy annual updates and revisions
- New editions at low cost
- Dynamic and easy to expand
- Sales and commercial platform through advertisements
- It meets the consumer need to quick and easy access to updated content and features combining facts, entertainment, information, inspiration , fun and education. It’s fun, it’s practical, it’s cheap.
Ian Brodie Consulting is at the forefront of e-Book production, having produced a number of travel guides over the last few years for major tourism organisations including Visit Somerset, Visit Rjukan and Visit Lillehammer. These guides provide an in depth guide that encompass a number of enhanced features, including;
- Interactive maps
- Video (including aerial drone footage)
- Slideshows
- Erase Images / Guess the Word / Drag & Drop / Google Maps / Instagram Gallery / Match Image / Quizzes / Slider Puzzles / Spot the Difference / Word Search / Vimeo / You Tube / Sound Cloud
- Scrolling Text
- Audio
- 3-D animation
- 360 degree internal and/or external scalable interactive images
I have now written 24 books and sold over 1.6 million copies world-wide and my abilities as a writer, photographer, video producer, drone pilot and graphic designer combine to provide a “one stop shop” for e-book production.
For more information visit my clients pages here.
Ian Brodie
22 November 2017
