Introducing the EPUBulator,
Typeflow’s new readaloud ebook webservice.
There it is! Go ahead and click on it! Poke around!
Start an account! Use lots of exclamation points!
Upload your PDF or InDesign file and your MP3s.
Download your readaloud ebook.
$20/page for simple fixed-layout picture books.
More than $20 for more complex books.
Less than $20 if you’re doing three or more.
Discounted rates for small self-publishers, small presses, and nonprofits.
More details at the EPUBulator About page.
Uh…what exactly are we talking about?
When big children’s publishers convert picture books to ebooks, they often add “readaloud highlighting.” That means there’s a human-narrated MP3 (not AI) in the ebook, and the words on the page light up as the narrator says them.
Small publishers offer these too, sometimes – but the process can be kind of a pain, intimidating, and expensive. (Hint: Not anymore.)
Typeflow has been producing these readaloud “talking ebooks” in the NYC Metro area since 2010, for big publishers like Scholastic and [Huge Computer Company We Can’t Name Because of an NDA], as well as lots of small presses and self-publishers – and now we’re making it easier for publishers of any size.
Tech note:
Q. When you say “talking ebook” and “readaloud highlighting,” do you mean a validating fixed-layout EPUB3 with word-level media-overlay .smils and <pars>?
A. Yes, but nobody knows what that means.
Another reason smaller presses don’t always make these kinds of ebooks is the readaloud behavior doesn’t transfer to Amazon’s Kindle yet.
Here’s where it does work today: Apple, Google, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Overdrive, Thorium, Colibrio, any current, capable EPUB platform.
Worth it without Amazon? If you’re a big publisher and you’re still reading, you know that’s a yes. If you’re a self-publisher, small publisher, or nonprofit, the answer is maybe. After the small-press discount (get in touch about that), it might be worth the money to have a more competitive EPUB on all the other platforms.
Also, EPUBulator price breaks start at just three titles. Bigger batches (entire backlists, for instance) get bigger discounts.
How it works
Upload PDF or InDesign files from any platform (Mac, Windows, whatever)
Upload MP3s of the narration
Go through a clear, straightforward checklist/info page
Download a watermarked proof
approve it
pay for it
download your new readaloud EPUB
That’s it. Sell it wherever you want, for however much you want to charge for it.
