When writing a book, an author always strives to make their readers feel as if they are in the world of their book, whether it’s a non-fiction account or a new fictitious world. Now, with the help of new technology in augmented reality, authors might actually be able to immerse their audience in their book.
Augmented reality (AR) is not a new concept. Anyone who saw Tron back in the 1980s knows the basic expectation of what AR would be able to do with people using a headset or computer terminal to enter a virtual world where they can explore new experiences and settings, although our technology had yet to completely master the level of those light cycles yet. In the past, AR technology was fairly expensive and not widely available, but in recent years, there has been a greater effort to match the expectations from the 1980s with multiple tech companies creating new mass-produced AR devices and apps. Devices like Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, and Google Glass are AR headsets released in recent years that can help to immerse people in new worlds while simple apps like Snapchat and Pokémon Go can create filters that populate your living room with virtual creatures and characters.
With AR technology increasing in prevalence, it was only a matter of time before publishers and authors embraced these tools to amplify the products. James Fairclough and Vicki Cooper co-founded the company Immersive Publishing with the goal of combining published books with augmented reality to allow “customers to enjoy digital content in a new manner.” The impetus of the company came when Fairclough co-created an iBook called The Mozart Project, which won multiple tech awards and was the best-selling interactive book on the iPad in 2014. In 2016, he and Cooper then worked together on a project with the BBC/AMC Films/The Ink Factory to create an iBook interactive guide to accompany the television adaptation of John le Carré’s The Night Manager.
Cooper and Fairclough note that AR has been used extensively in marketing and advertisement for books in the past, but this technology is now being expanded into other areas of publication. Immersive Publishing works with authors to create specific apps that are tailored to their books with logos and QR codes that can be included on the front cover of the published and printed book. That app can then link to any type of content the authors want to use including interviews, archival images, illustrations, or audio material that corresponds with the written word. Readers can use the QR code to directly access this immersive material on their phone or tablet.
Cooper and Fairclough think their work will only be a boon for the publishing industry by saying, “at a time when publishers are employing new ways and techniques to expand their markets, this growing technology—pairing AR with the printed book—offers the opportunity to heighten the reader’s experience and reach new audiences and offers a new future to the book publishing industry.”
In particular, experts see this AR technology as a major benefit for certain genres. For instance, non-fiction books tend to cover a lot of research and depending on the topic can cover a lot of material including images, interviews, archival film footage, and audio. AR can allow authors to use multimedia to enhance what is written and go beyond the constraints of a physical copy of a book. And AR can also be used to retroactively improve books that have already been published, adding updated information as new research material is discovered on a topic. For instance, true crime books written about unsolved cases could use AR on reprinted copies to include newly discovered information if there are updates on cases as new forensic technology continues to help in crimefighting.
Additionally, children’s books and fantasy books have begun to lean in hard on AR collaboration. Fantasy books can use AR to really expand on their world-building with interactive artwork and animation, while children’s books can use AR to provide interactive educational opportunities in conjunction with the text.
The work that Cooper and Fairclough are doing with Immersive Publishing ties in well with the growth of alternative media in publishing. As we’ve noted before, more and more authors are turning to ebooks, which feel tailor-made for utilizing AR. With ebooks, these created apps can be directly opened on the tablet or phone that a reader is using to make the material feel even more immersive. Similarly, audiobooks are also becoming more and more prevalent in recent years and can be used as part of AR to create a sense of a reader being in the setting of a book (taking me back to listening to my read-aloud tape of Cookie Monster making vegetable soup from my youth).
With the growth of alternative media options for publication, the use of AR is only going to increase in the coming years. While they haven’t quite reached the level of AR seen in futuristic plots of movies and TV shows, publishers are moving toward this. With the rise of the Metaverse, some experts believe that readers will very soon be able to create avatars to enter the world of popular books and create their own adventures. Publishers, whether large or independent, will want to use companies like Immersive Publishing and other similar technologies to help them create bigger worlds for books that seem destined for success. Have you used AR for marketing or as part of the writing of your published book?
By Chris Moffitt
Chris is a Managing Editor at Technica Editorial
