The Princes
in the Tower
The secrets of this greatest locked room mystery of all time will be revealed in a new book, to be published as an eBook later this summer.
Edward and Edward - Interactive are about the future 3rd duke of Buckingham; Edward was only 5 years old when his cousins, the 12 year old Edward, Prince of Wales, and his brother, Richard, duke of York, disappeared. Nevertheless, his story gives you clues as to who was responsible, even why they did it. It does not tell you how. These clues caused me to look deeper and find the answers. The answers are so extraordinary they deserve their own book - The Necromancer - and this is more of a sequel to Edward than I could have hoped for.
Like Edward, I am making the new eBook interactive, you will have links to the famous writings of Sir Thomas More and Sir George Buck as well as many more materials, including the working of Magic.
I feel passionately about how links in eBooks can revolutionise any story. They can add depth and dimension in a way print can't, and they're used even better in The Necromancer - Interactive than in Edward - Interactive.
A rather formal article published on the subject
Writers, EBooks and the Internet
It is high time the eBook came of age; here is the next step in the eBook revolution.
Writers want people to be as engaged in their subject as possible. There is no other point in publishing, and it does not matter what the subject is, the desire for engagement is always the same.
The medium of engagement is, however, limited; words, pictures and drawings, further limited by space. Not only does weight and volume in a printed book become physically unmanageable but production cost, particularly of pictures, increases dramatically. This is the case for the traditional eBook, but more than that, reading a book is a linear activity; too much detail bogs down pace and defeats interest, while too much digression leads to confusion. Pace and pitch are in the hands of the author and it is part of the art of writing to keep these within the engagement of the reader, the art of writing a ‘page turner.’
What if some part of this art could be put in the hands of readers? On top of this, what if a new element could be added to the medium of engagement?
I have written in praise of eBooks. Of course, there is some thrill in possessing the physical object of a book, that somehow interest and knowledge are tangible things within it; but on grounds of cost and space there can be no argument, an eBook is better. So much has been said by me and others, but it does not address my two questions.
Enter the eBook linked to the Internet, particularly an eBook linked to a dedicated website.
Start with linear direction. A book which does not have this ceases to be a book and becomes a magazine or, at best, a compendium. Any book offers a journey, from start to destination; a great work goes from question to understanding, even the slightest novel goes from problem to resolution. An eBook can maintain this direction, and the drive of the story, while still allowing the reader to digress along inserted hyperlinks, wherever the reader’s fancy may lead.
The Internet is vast and sometimes confusing. A writer who knows the subject can guide the reader, to the relevant and better parts of it. The links in an eBook can be the start of a network which expands the reader’s vision immeasurably.
More than that, while the space taken by an eBook is virtual, its size in bytes can grow alarmingly (important for downloads and other purposes). Let webhosts take the strain of storing information. Not only that, the author should not ‘re-invent the wheel,’ many others can give related insights and information better than the author – give readers access to their sites.
Now the question of the dedicated website. Any writer will be told to build a website, generally for marketing purposes. For me the point is a second stage in the network supporting and satisfying readers’ interests in the subject. Here you can collect materials and articles, blogs and comments, but and most importantly, you can give a collection of further links. It seems to me a writer’s website should become a nexus for interest in the subject, well beyond the limits of the book which caused its generation.
Now for that additional element of storytelling beyond words, pictures and drawings. If audiobooks, films and dramatizations had escaped you attention YouTube probably has not. You can upload discussions and other video clips to YouTube and create a link from your eBook. You may find you don’t even need to do this; you can upload short video clips and sound files to your own website and create a link to there.
Technology is still moving and improving. I have found difficult files, such as a complex genealogy which goes beyond the parameters of an eBook file, can be uploaded to a website and accessed from the eBook. We are already well beyond what can be done in a printed book.
For most of us this is all new ground. It was the acquisition of an iPad which allowed me to test and explore what can be done. It is almost inevitable that first attempts will have glitches, in this as in anything else. Now there is free, downloadable software which will convert full books, text, pictures, drawings and hyperlinks to eBook formats. All you need is the software and your eBook reader (connected to the Internet) and you can experiment in private. You can play with it, develop it, and tweak it until your interactive eBook is ready for publication. The beauty of it is writers can do this without professional help, they can set themselves standards well beyond those which would be commercially viable; it is now so much more possible for the dedicated author to produce masterpieces, possibly even ones which cross between writing and the visual arts – what would William Blake not have given for such a tool?
Such talent as I have is in words, and I am content, writers can now talk, literally, to their readers, and even give readers the opportunity to talk back.
The secrets of this greatest locked room mystery of all time will be revealed in a new book, to be published as an eBook later this summer.
Edward and Edward - Interactive are about the future 3rd duke of Buckingham; Edward was only 5 years old when his cousins, the 12 year old Edward, Prince of Wales, and his brother, Richard, duke of York, disappeared. Nevertheless, his story gives you clues as to who was responsible, even why they did it. It does not tell you how. These clues caused me to look deeper and find the answers. The answers are so extraordinary they deserve their own book - The Necromancer - and this is more of a sequel to Edward than I could have hoped for.
Like Edward, I am making the new eBook interactive, you will have links to the famous writings of Sir Thomas More and Sir George Buck as well as many more materials, including the working of Magic.
I feel passionately about how links in eBooks can revolutionise any story. They can add depth and dimension in a way print can't, and they're used even better in The Necromancer - Interactive than in Edward - Interactive.
A rather formal article published on the subject
Writers, EBooks and the Internet
It is high time the eBook came of age; here is the next step in the eBook revolution.
Writers want people to be as engaged in their subject as possible. There is no other point in publishing, and it does not matter what the subject is, the desire for engagement is always the same.
The medium of engagement is, however, limited; words, pictures and drawings, further limited by space. Not only does weight and volume in a printed book become physically unmanageable but production cost, particularly of pictures, increases dramatically. This is the case for the traditional eBook, but more than that, reading a book is a linear activity; too much detail bogs down pace and defeats interest, while too much digression leads to confusion. Pace and pitch are in the hands of the author and it is part of the art of writing to keep these within the engagement of the reader, the art of writing a ‘page turner.’
What if some part of this art could be put in the hands of readers? On top of this, what if a new element could be added to the medium of engagement?
I have written in praise of eBooks. Of course, there is some thrill in possessing the physical object of a book, that somehow interest and knowledge are tangible things within it; but on grounds of cost and space there can be no argument, an eBook is better. So much has been said by me and others, but it does not address my two questions.
Enter the eBook linked to the Internet, particularly an eBook linked to a dedicated website.
Start with linear direction. A book which does not have this ceases to be a book and becomes a magazine or, at best, a compendium. Any book offers a journey, from start to destination; a great work goes from question to understanding, even the slightest novel goes from problem to resolution. An eBook can maintain this direction, and the drive of the story, while still allowing the reader to digress along inserted hyperlinks, wherever the reader’s fancy may lead.
The Internet is vast and sometimes confusing. A writer who knows the subject can guide the reader, to the relevant and better parts of it. The links in an eBook can be the start of a network which expands the reader’s vision immeasurably.
More than that, while the space taken by an eBook is virtual, its size in bytes can grow alarmingly (important for downloads and other purposes). Let webhosts take the strain of storing information. Not only that, the author should not ‘re-invent the wheel,’ many others can give related insights and information better than the author – give readers access to their sites.
Now the question of the dedicated website. Any writer will be told to build a website, generally for marketing purposes. For me the point is a second stage in the network supporting and satisfying readers’ interests in the subject. Here you can collect materials and articles, blogs and comments, but and most importantly, you can give a collection of further links. It seems to me a writer’s website should become a nexus for interest in the subject, well beyond the limits of the book which caused its generation.
Now for that additional element of storytelling beyond words, pictures and drawings. If audiobooks, films and dramatizations had escaped you attention YouTube probably has not. You can upload discussions and other video clips to YouTube and create a link from your eBook. You may find you don’t even need to do this; you can upload short video clips and sound files to your own website and create a link to there.
Technology is still moving and improving. I have found difficult files, such as a complex genealogy which goes beyond the parameters of an eBook file, can be uploaded to a website and accessed from the eBook. We are already well beyond what can be done in a printed book.
For most of us this is all new ground. It was the acquisition of an iPad which allowed me to test and explore what can be done. It is almost inevitable that first attempts will have glitches, in this as in anything else. Now there is free, downloadable software which will convert full books, text, pictures, drawings and hyperlinks to eBook formats. All you need is the software and your eBook reader (connected to the Internet) and you can experiment in private. You can play with it, develop it, and tweak it until your interactive eBook is ready for publication. The beauty of it is writers can do this without professional help, they can set themselves standards well beyond those which would be commercially viable; it is now so much more possible for the dedicated author to produce masterpieces, possibly even ones which cross between writing and the visual arts – what would William Blake not have given for such a tool?
Such talent as I have is in words, and I am content, writers can now talk, literally, to their readers, and even give readers the opportunity to talk back.
| edward_-_mike_voyce.epub |
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ENJOY.
Edward – Give Away of a Revolutionary EBook
To see just how remarkable this give away is read the following article. At the end of it are links, including a link to the Edward Stafford Homepage from where you can download the book.
Edward: The History of an Extraordinary Book
It took years in the making; Edward was already extraordinary when it was first published last year. The deeply researched facts should be shattering to what we know about Tudor history. Two reasons stopped me leaving it at that; the first is I already knew how, when they contradict the cosy conservative views that are their stock in trade, academic historians ignore the inconvenient facts of History – consider B.B.C.’s documentary on the legitimacy of Edward IV, and Terry Jones’ masterly Who Murdered Chaucer? (Both have links in Edward - Interactive) – the second reason is Edward contains elements of Mysticism that no historian could reconcile with a modern academic view of the World.
The fact is, Edward’s story is primarily a Love story and an Adventure story; the historical context is not the main point. What happened to him reads like a novel and so I wrote it in that form, and called it a novel.
Even then there is something more, a very great deal of the book is how Edward came to me and the effect it had on me. Even this has the drama of a novel, if anything could ‘top’ the cataclysmic climax of Edward’s story it is the vertiginous interview with the Nine Worthies at the end of my own story – I know, I was there.
There is a naivety about a lawyer and teacher coming to publication for the first time. I think it was a relief the book was published at all, even if the price was twice what I thought it should be (you can still buy it at that price on Amazon and at Booklocker). I also knew nothing about publicity and marketing – in fact, I still know very little.
The first step in putting this right was to turn Edward into an eBook. I have always believed in eBooks, they should surely be the way to the future for the written word, yet nothing prepared me for the gruelling experience of formatting Edward to meet the exacting standards of Smashwords’ Premium catalogue. Nevertheless, it was done; the book is there, in every conceivable format.
Next was the question of the price. I employed a printer, and with a new ISBN no. there is a new printed edition of Edward, at under £10 including P. & P.
Naïve as I may have been, there was a clear need for a website for Edward, not just about the book, but for many things relevant to him. This website is now substantial and compendious, with many links to help further research; it is the best vehicle for selling Edward, and a way for you to communicate with me.
If there were any need to show Edward is not just about the historical figure, but also about me, this is evidenced by a second website, on Reincarnation, Spirit and Reality. This proved as necessary as the Edward website, it also has many links, and allows you to explore your own views; in fact I wish you would, and help me in developing mine, and my understanding of the great mysteries which still reside in Edward.
In this I can say publishing Edward has changed my life. The Reincarnation website has led to my hosting a Blogtalkradio show, Reincarnation the Secrets of Past Lives, and to my leading a circle on Reincarnation at a progressive Spiritualist church.
Now to the present development. Most eBooks are simply electronic copies of printed books; this is a great pity and under use of eBooks’ potential. When I produced the format for Smashwords I did not own a tablet, I had to rely on the professionals to produce the right look and feel to produce a good reading experience. Now I own one it’s been possible to produce an eBook with pictures and links, a book which is truly interactive.
Let me give you an example: you may not have heard of Sir Rees ap Thomas, let alone that he was the individual who killed Richard III, he only comes into the story as Edward’s receiver for Brecon, but to know more about him gives the backdrop to a conversation he had with Edward in Hay. With links such as this it is no longer necessary to rely solely on the website, and a great deal more is made available to readers.
Furthermore, the eBook Introduction has a link to two video clips, on the Internet but only accessible from the eBook. By this means we can establish a connection which would hardly be possible through the printed word alone.
Is writing done for Love or Money? I suggest this is the difference between the author and the hack. Having said that it is nice to be paid; having said that I actually give this latest development, and the book into which I have poured so much love and effort, absolutely free of any charge in money – at least for the time being. The only payment I ask, and one I can hardly demand, is your feedback. Feedback will feed into further improvements in Edward over the next few weeks and months.
Like any good tale, the story of Edward goes on, it is organic and growing, and possibly will never end.
Edward Stafford Homepage
Blogtalkradio