An interactive book as your author platform

An author platform is the set of places where readers find you, follow your work and come back for more: your books, your website, your mailing list, your talks and your videos. Most authors build it in pieces. The books live in one place and the videos in another. An interactive edition of your book joins them: readers read your words and tap a passage to watch you explain it.

What an author platform usually includes

• Your books, in print and as ebooks.
• A website and a mailing list.
• Talks, interviews, podcasts and videos.
• Social media accounts.

The weak point is the link between the books and everything else. A reader who finishes a chapter has no easy way to hear what you said about it in a talk two years ago.

The interactive book as the centre

An interactive edition keeps your text as the main thing and adds your recordings to it, passage by passage:

• Your words, explained by you. Short clips from your talks and videos sit on the passages they are about.
• Other voices, if you want them. Guests, co-authors or contributors can speak on the same passage.
• Your name on it. The reader carries your brand, on your own web address.

Who it suits

It suits authors who already speak about their books: business and leadership authors, course creators and coaches with a book, and writers on history, philosophy or psychology who give talks and record videos. If you have a library of recordings, most of the work is already done.

How RoamBook does it

RoamBook is an interactive reading platform. You add your book (Word, EPUB, Markdown, RTF or plain text) and your video or audio files. RoamBook's AI makes captions, cuts the recordings into short clips and suggests which passage each clip explains. You or your team approve every clip. Readers open your edition in the browser on any phone.

What to check before you start

• You hold the rights to publish the text digitally. If a publisher holds them, ask first.
• You own or have permission to use the recordings.
• You have someone who can review the suggested clips.

Questions

Can I use my YouTube videos?

Today you upload the video or audio files. Adding video from a link is planned.

Do readers need an app?

No. The edition opens in the browser.

Can other people add their videos to my book?

Yes. Several speakers can be linked to the same passage, and you approve each clip.