5 ms·

Apply HN: Bubblin Superbooks

6 points by marvindanig 11y ago

sharemywin 11y ago
How do you make money?
- marvindanig 11y ago
  Good question! I'm Marvin here, one of the co-founders. Short answer: "We don't". But I'm personally looking forward to sell my work online. Which is also likely going to be the business model for other writers/developers in our community.
  - sandGorgon 11y ago
    You could be a marketplace for new content if you get authoring right.
wehadfun 11y ago
Can superbooks be hosted from, sold through, other platforms? Can I create a super book and sell it on Amazon or my own website?
- marvindanig 11y ago
  Yes, you can host it anywhere -- even on Github[1] pages! Our open source tool - Bookiza[2] - does exactly this. It will bootstrap a project (manuscript) for you in your local. Then: $ bookiza server Now you can "develop" your book like it were an app. Once ready, hit $ bookiza publish #and boom it will go live. Yep, it is fun! :-) [1] https://craigleat.github.io/#1 https://craigleat.github.io/#1 [2] http://bookiza.io http://bookiza.io
PM_NAKED_PIKS 11y ago
What are you looking that YC offers? Or, do you just want the YC stamp?
marvindanig 11y ago
Hello HN! We're the Bubblin'oes and we're trying to "reinvent" books. I know this sounds a bit hackneyed but our motivation with Bubblin is to make books a first class citizen of web. Make them gorgeous, accessible and full of life. It starts by considering that book is a collection of webpages. And then we can choose to do books with anything inside 'em: WebGL, Shaders, CSS3, JavaScript, HTML5 - you name it! Recently one of our books 'ABCs for babies'[1] was well received in this community. It's nothing but a bunch of cute alphabets and animals done in pure CSS3. It's also open source: [0] https://github.com/marvindanig/ABCD-Animal-Book https://github.com/marvindanig/ABCD-Animal-Book [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11237233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11237233 [2] https://bubbl.in/cover/alfabet-polski-by-tomasz-walen https://bubbl.in/cover/alfabet-polski-by-tomasz-walen
buss 11y ago
How will you work with authors to make these books? I would wager that most authors don't know HMTL5/CSS3. What would be the incentive for an author to work with you vs. a more traditional publisher? How big is this market compared to mostly-text ebooks and print (picture) books?
- marvindanig 11y ago
  > How will you work with authors to make these books? I would wager that most authors don't know HMTL5/CSS3. Great point! So right now there's a great divide between the world of authors and let's say front-end developers. But there is some intersection too and that is where we focus currently. We work closely with new writers (I personally sit with them or collaborate with them over Github) and try to yield their thoughts into telling creatives -- it's a bit different for everyone, depending on the nature of book/individual etc. In the medium term we intend to provide this as a process with which developers and designers can work alongside ordinary writers to help them create bestsellers. As if the book were an app! Part of our strategy is also to provide open source tools (See bookiza[1]) and predesigned templates so that writers can start off quickly and not have to worry about HTML/CSS, or the underlying "tech". They can focus on writing their story instead and leave the "tech people" handle their tech. Obviously, different people have different skills and preferences so we'll see if this evolves into a 'book writing framework' sorts or just a, say, predesigned editing/word processing tool or a set of hard rules that people may or may not always follow. > What would be the incentive for an author to work with you vs. a more traditional publisher? There are quite a few big ones: 1. Number one: The ability to create a winner. Imagine a horror story with a webgl interactive showing blood spilled on a glass table? Eww. Heh, I just made it up but why not! :=) You can add visual explanations[3] to the context, like showing a physics experiment to explain how a pendulum works or showing how projectile motion can become an in-orbit flight around a planet with acceleration etc. -- in your book. It will add life to the context of your story. This simply isn't possible on traditional platforms that are based on artefacts that sit outside of web. In other words, with Bubblin you'll be able to do books that are otherwise impossible to do elsewhere. 2. Second big advantage: 100% Support! Our books work everywhere -- all devices, all OSes, all viewports[3]. They are responsive and scale well. In theory, your book can reach everyone on the web and not just those who are behind similar but closed ecosystems today. 3. Third, it takes about half the time to get the book out. Guaranteed! I encourage you to try Bookiza and see for yourself. Why so? Because HTML and CSS! Compared to writing with an enterprise-y tool like MS Word and then having a bunch of people (editors/friends) back-and-forth it and then converting it to N different ebook formats this one rakes in much less complexity and saves time. We tap into all the advantages of our existing developer toolchain - using git for versioning, ability to collaborate with co-authors on Github, using markdown or haml or just plain text, utilizing rapid manuscript deployments for editions etc. etc. etc. So quite a few advantages in there! 4. Fourth, the readers don't have to wait for a book to download or worry about disk space. Again this is convenience & simplicity of web. There is no botheration of managing files or their compatibility, format or other issues. Portability is simply in-built. I mean, it just works! > How big is this market compared to mostly-text ebooks and print (picture) books? You can always do a text-only book or an images-only magazine on Bubblin. Whatever makes your readers happy! ebooks market size and opportunity is pretty big even if we subsection it into just interesting set of interactive books. I'll be happy to run by some numbers if you want. Feel free to reach me at marvin@bubbl.in :-) [1] http://bookiza.io http://bookiza.io [2] https://vimeo.com/64895205 https://vimeo.com/64895205 [3] https://bubbl.in/support https://bubbl.in/support
slang800 11y ago
I'm so tired of sites trying to bring animated/turnable pages to the web. Pages make sense when you're constrained to to the size of a physical book, but here on the web you can have infinitely long pages with sections divided however you want. There should be no need to click a button to advance or split your text by what fits onto a page, and it certainly shouldn't need to break the Find tool. I have to admit that some of these books make great use of the layout, with 2-page wide drawings and text fit around the illustration. However, that same effect can be accomplished with vertical scrolling (as Medium has done) and those 2-page wide drawings get split in half on mobile where only one page is visible at a time.
- marvindanig 11y ago
  Medium is a blogging platform. The comparison is just plain wrong. > ... but here on the web you can have ... pages with sections divided however you want. Yep, exactly. :-)
  - slang800 11y ago
    > Medium is a blogging platform. The comparison is just plain wrong. Yes, I'm familiar with the type of work they publish, but I'm talking about those beautiful full-width images they use (https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/215679797-Images https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/215679797-Images), in comparison with the 2-page wide images used in some of the example books. And full-width images have even worked well for longform stories like https://medium.com/matter/who-killed-the-jeff-davis-8-d1b813e13581 https://medium.com/matter/who-killed-the-jeff-davis-8-d1b813... ... Just look at those illustrations and consistent color-palette, absolutely beautiful. > > ... but here on the web you can have ... pages with sections divided however you want. > Yep, exactly. :-) The phrase "infinitely long" is important. Without it, it sounds like I'm talking about fixed-size pages, rather than a single page encompassing an entire chapter or even an entire book.
- accordionclown 11y ago
  > There should be no need to click a button to advance it's not as if a user doesn't need to do any manipulation of any kind in order to scroll. with that being the case, i don't see how clicking a button to "turn a page" is worse. and as pagination gives the ability to "chunk" the content, to avoid problems such as pictures split across the viewport, i see pagination as a much smarter mechanism in many cases... but a hybrid mode that enables both preferences is the best. -bowerbird
mydpy 11y ago
My concern is that the relationship between time to create content and financial reward will dissuade people from adopting your platform.
mydpy 11y ago
ARGGHHHHH! Poor zrebak! http://imgur.com/dc4Ek81 http://imgur.com/dc4Ek81
- marvindanig 11y ago
  Thanks! Which browser/OS are you on? I've alerted Tomasz & Judith about the zrebak losing its head ... :P
  - mydpy 11y ago
    Chrome/Mac OSX (latest)
sandGorgon 11y ago
the problem with ebook or magazine publishing isnt hosting the created books.. but its the creation process itself. Which is why I have a lot of hope for things like https://atlas.oreilly.com/ https://atlas.oreilly.com/ . You need to solve for supply side via a creation mechanism - the demand side will come. If you havent already, do spend some time on reddit.com/r/selfpublish
- marvindanig 11y ago
  > ... solve for supply side via a creation mechanism Yup, that is pretty much spot on! Let me invite you over @bookiza? - our open source book reification framework. It's on similar footing, as you've suggested, but still very different from traditional online publishing. http://bookiza.io http://bookiza.io
- accordionclown 11y ago
  i don't think atlas is available to the public any more.

6 points by marvindanig 11y ago

sharemywin 11y ago

How do you make money?

marvindanig 11y ago
Good question! I'm Marvin here, one of the co-founders. Short answer: "We don't". But I'm personally looking forward to sell my work online. Which is also likely going to be the business model for other writers/developers in our community.
- sandGorgon 11y ago
  You could be a marketplace for new content if you get authoring right.

wehadfun 11y ago

Can superbooks be hosted from, sold through, other platforms? Can I create a super book and sell it on Amazon or my own website?

marvindanig 11y ago
Yes, you can host it anywhere -- even on Github[1] pages! Our open source tool - Bookiza[2] - does exactly this. It will bootstrap a project (manuscript) for you in your local. Then: $ bookiza server Now you can "develop" your book like it were an app. Once ready, hit $ bookiza publish #and boom it will go live. Yep, it is fun! :-) [1] https://craigleat.github.io/#1 https://craigleat.github.io/#1 [2] http://bookiza.io http://bookiza.io

PM_NAKED_PIKS 11y ago

What are you looking that YC offers? Or, do you just want the YC stamp?

marvindanig 11y ago

Hello HN! We're the Bubblin'oes and we're trying to "reinvent" books. I know this sounds a bit hackneyed but our motivation with Bubblin is to make books a first class citizen of web. Make them gorgeous, accessible and full of life. It starts by considering that book is a collection of webpages. And then we can choose to do books with anything inside 'em: WebGL, Shaders, CSS3, JavaScript, HTML5 - you name it! Recently one of our books 'ABCs for babies'[1] was well received in this community. It's nothing but a bunch of cute alphabets and animals done in pure CSS3. It's also open source: [0] https://github.com/marvindanig/ABCD-Animal-Book https://github.com/marvindanig/ABCD-Animal-Book [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11237233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11237233 [2] https://bubbl.in/cover/alfabet-polski-by-tomasz-walen https://bubbl.in/cover/alfabet-polski-by-tomasz-walen

buss 11y ago

How will you work with authors to make these books? I would wager that most authors don't know HMTL5/CSS3. What would be the incentive for an author to work with you vs. a more traditional publisher? How big is this market compared to mostly-text ebooks and print (picture) books?

marvindanig 11y ago
> How will you work with authors to make these books? I would wager that most authors don't know HMTL5/CSS3. Great point! So right now there's a great divide between the world of authors and let's say front-end developers. But there is some intersection too and that is where we focus currently. We work closely with new writers (I personally sit with them or collaborate with them over Github) and try to yield their thoughts into telling creatives -- it's a bit different for everyone, depending on the nature of book/individual etc. In the medium term we intend to provide this as a process with which developers and designers can work alongside ordinary writers to help them create bestsellers. As if the book were an app! Part of our strategy is also to provide open source tools (See bookiza[1]) and predesigned templates so that writers can start off quickly and not have to worry about HTML/CSS, or the underlying "tech". They can focus on writing their story instead and leave the "tech people" handle their tech. Obviously, different people have different skills and preferences so we'll see if this evolves into a 'book writing framework' sorts or just a, say, predesigned editing/word processing tool or a set of hard rules that people may or may not always follow. > What would be the incentive for an author to work with you vs. a more traditional publisher? There are quite a few big ones: 1. Number one: The ability to create a winner. Imagine a horror story with a webgl interactive showing blood spilled on a glass table? Eww. Heh, I just made it up but why not! :=) You can add visual explanations[3] to the context, like showing a physics experiment to explain how a pendulum works or showing how projectile motion can become an in-orbit flight around a planet with acceleration etc. -- in your book. It will add life to the context of your story. This simply isn't possible on traditional platforms that are based on artefacts that sit outside of web. In other words, with Bubblin you'll be able to do books that are otherwise impossible to do elsewhere. 2. Second big advantage: 100% Support! Our books work everywhere -- all devices, all OSes, all viewports[3]. They are responsive and scale well. In theory, your book can reach everyone on the web and not just those who are behind similar but closed ecosystems today. 3. Third, it takes about half the time to get the book out. Guaranteed! I encourage you to try Bookiza and see for yourself. Why so? Because HTML and CSS! Compared to writing with an enterprise-y tool like MS Word and then having a bunch of people (editors/friends) back-and-forth it and then converting it to N different ebook formats this one rakes in much less complexity and saves time. We tap into all the advantages of our existing developer toolchain - using git for versioning, ability to collaborate with co-authors on Github, using markdown or haml or just plain text, utilizing rapid manuscript deployments for editions etc. etc. etc. So quite a few advantages in there! 4. Fourth, the readers don't have to wait for a book to download or worry about disk space. Again this is convenience & simplicity of web. There is no botheration of managing files or their compatibility, format or other issues. Portability is simply in-built. I mean, it just works! > How big is this market compared to mostly-text ebooks and print (picture) books? You can always do a text-only book or an images-only magazine on Bubblin. Whatever makes your readers happy! ebooks market size and opportunity is pretty big even if we subsection it into just interesting set of interactive books. I'll be happy to run by some numbers if you want. Feel free to reach me at marvin@bubbl.in :-) [1] http://bookiza.io http://bookiza.io [2] https://vimeo.com/64895205 https://vimeo.com/64895205 [3] https://bubbl.in/support https://bubbl.in/support

slang800 11y ago

I'm so tired of sites trying to bring animated/turnable pages to the web. Pages make sense when you're constrained to to the size of a physical book, but here on the web you can have infinitely long pages with sections divided however you want. There should be no need to click a button to advance or split your text by what fits onto a page, and it certainly shouldn't need to break the Find tool. I have to admit that some of these books make great use of the layout, with 2-page wide drawings and text fit around the illustration. However, that same effect can be accomplished with vertical scrolling (as Medium has done) and those 2-page wide drawings get split in half on mobile where only one page is visible at a time.

marvindanig 11y ago
Medium is a blogging platform. The comparison is just plain wrong. > ... but here on the web you can have ... pages with sections divided however you want. Yep, exactly. :-)
- slang800 11y ago
  > Medium is a blogging platform. The comparison is just plain wrong. Yes, I'm familiar with the type of work they publish, but I'm talking about those beautiful full-width images they use (https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/215679797-Images https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/215679797-Images), in comparison with the 2-page wide images used in some of the example books. And full-width images have even worked well for longform stories like https://medium.com/matter/who-killed-the-jeff-davis-8-d1b813e13581 https://medium.com/matter/who-killed-the-jeff-davis-8-d1b813... ... Just look at those illustrations and consistent color-palette, absolutely beautiful. > > ... but here on the web you can have ... pages with sections divided however you want. > Yep, exactly. :-) The phrase "infinitely long" is important. Without it, it sounds like I'm talking about fixed-size pages, rather than a single page encompassing an entire chapter or even an entire book.
accordionclown 11y ago
> There should be no need to click a button to advance it's not as if a user doesn't need to do any manipulation of any kind in order to scroll. with that being the case, i don't see how clicking a button to "turn a page" is worse. and as pagination gives the ability to "chunk" the content, to avoid problems such as pictures split across the viewport, i see pagination as a much smarter mechanism in many cases... but a hybrid mode that enables both preferences is the best. -bowerbird

mydpy 11y ago

My concern is that the relationship between time to create content and financial reward will dissuade people from adopting your platform.

mydpy 11y ago

ARGGHHHHH! Poor zrebak! http://imgur.com/dc4Ek81 http://imgur.com/dc4Ek81

marvindanig 11y ago
Thanks! Which browser/OS are you on? I've alerted Tomasz & Judith about the zrebak losing its head ... :P
- mydpy 11y ago
  Chrome/Mac OSX (latest)

sandGorgon 11y ago

the problem with ebook or magazine publishing isnt hosting the created books.. but its the creation process itself. Which is why I have a lot of hope for things like https://atlas.oreilly.com/ https://atlas.oreilly.com/ . You need to solve for supply side via a creation mechanism - the demand side will come. If you havent already, do spend some time on reddit.com/r/selfpublish

marvindanig 11y ago
> ... solve for supply side via a creation mechanism Yup, that is pretty much spot on! Let me invite you over @bookiza? - our open source book reification framework. It's on similar footing, as you've suggested, but still very different from traditional online publishing. http://bookiza.io http://bookiza.io
accordionclown 11y ago
i don't think atlas is available to the public any more.