Redefining the Digital Book: first true digital Multi-Media book created by an independent publisher

July 20, 2012 - PRLog -- The printed book: 'Amsterdam... The Essence'
25 creative Amsterdammers share their experience of life in Holland’s capital - including tattoo king Henk Schiffmacher; musical fashion superstar Bas Kosters; street artist Laser 3.14; founder of the Prostitution Information Centre Mariska Majoor; Hollywood actress Halina Reijn; rapper and artist Def P; and singer/songwriter Lake Montgomery.

David explains; “Nobody wants to be labeled a tourist - whether visiting, or living in Amsterdam as an expat. This book provides the inside story on why this great city is so diverse and fascinating.”

'Amsterdam... The Essence' for iPad
While writing the book, David amassed a large volume of additional content; movies, sound recordings and photos. When Apple’s iBooks Author software was launched in Spring 2012, he saw the opportunity to create the story he really wanted to tell - in sound and vision as well as in words.

“The creative individuals who are seen in the book have so many sides to them: painting, making music and featuring on-screen,” tells David. “Print only allows a part of their creativity to be seen. iBooks Author offered the platform for me to tell that multi-faceted story in a much more complete way, by enabling multimedia to be integrated seemlessly with the words in an ebook for iPad. Finally, this is the story I originally wanted to share.”

Available on iBooks and iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/amsterdam...-essence-for-...), the resulting publication consists of 17 movies, 28 soundclips, 247 photos and 50.000 words. Behind the scenes footage, music videos, audio-snippets and image galleries bring Amsterdam’s story and the people who shape it into vivid life.

Go to http://youtu.be/RqCcRTqMs-Q for a two-minute movie showing the iPad book.



About David Beckett
Born in the UK, David is an author and expert in digital publishing. After graduating in
English Literature, he began a 17-year business management career with photography
company Canon, moving to Amsterdam in 1998. He left the corporate world in 2009 to pursue his passion for travel and writing, and came upon the idea of Amsterdam... The Essence a year later. He set up his own publishing and consultancy company and trademarked The Essence™ brand worldwide. He has helped numerous entrepreneurs and creative individuals to grow, including; Fashiolista.com, Katharine Oktober Matthews, AmsterDo magazine and MimicMe.com. David is now developing a new brand of books, entitled Three Minute Business.