by Deanna Raybourn, author of the Lady Julia Grey series and the upcoming The Dead Travel Fast.
One of the great pleasures in having books brought out electronically is the chance to write enriched content. This is usually an assignment I get months—sometimes years!—after the book was first written, and I adore getting to revisit my favorite characters. When I write a book, I have maps and family trees and backstory anecdotes that may never find their way into the novel itself, but enriched content offers me a chance to share those juicy little morsels with readers. I love to include mentions of food in my books, and the enriched content often includes actual recipes so readers can create the same foods my characters are eating and munch along as they read.
Another favorite bit of enriched content are the letters I write between characters. There might be an occasional note in a book, but the letters I create for the ebooks are special. They are much more detailed, and often they give a much fuller picture of the relationship between characters. In the enhanced ebook edition of Silent in the Grave, there is a letter from the main character, Lady Julia Grey, to her sister, Portia, years before the main action of the novel opens. But it sets up that action, even foreshadowing a few events that did not unfold for my characters for several years and giving readers a little peek at what is yet to come.
As the first in the series, Silent in the Grave lent itself particularly well to enriched content. Due to the vagaries of publishing, I had actually written the extra material for the second and third books in the series before I tackled the first! But writing that additional material for those novels made me all the more eager to contribute to the ebook of the first. For me, every book I write has something I wanted to explore further but had to leave out for reasons of space or time. Enriched content is the perfect place to bring those treasures out to play!
Editor’s note: to thank Deanna for writing us a great post, we’re rewarding you, our readers! Let us know if you’ve ever bought an enriched ebook edition in the comments by midnight EST January 25th and we’ll send you a real book: an advanced reader copy of Deanna’s upcoming The Dead Travel Fast. That is, when we get a copy of it! Contest only open to residents of the US and Canada. Full contest details here.
Tags: author Deanna Raybourn, Contests, enriched ebooks, Lady Julia Grey series
Carol
January 20th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
No, I haven’t bought an enriched ebook edition. It sounds like a neat idea, though.
Michelle Santiago
January 20th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
no, i haven’t bought an enriched ebook edition or any ebooks really. i’ve downloaded free ebooks but i very much prefer real books.
Peggy
January 20th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
I’ve been very interested in the concept…but have not yet bought one.
Deanne
January 20th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Now, I haven’t bought an enriched ebook edition.
Andrea
January 20th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Oh I’m just getting into ebooks. I’ve never tried an Enriched edtion, but I’d be open to it.
Yazmin
January 21st, 2010 at 12:15 am
I have bought as enriched eBook edition before. I think they are great. They give more details on things that you would normally wonder about and might want to research later. They have links, sometimes pictures, and even a recipes.
Lisa
January 21st, 2010 at 6:54 am
No i’ve never bought one or even heard of one til now. Sounds really cool though.
Lisa
janicu
January 21st, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I don’t think I’ve ever bought an enriched eBook before!
Angie
January 21st, 2010 at 4:35 pm
I’ve never bought an enriched ebook but Ms. Raybourn makes it sound delightful and right up my alley. Thank you for the post and the opportunity to win an ARC! Can’t wait to read it.
Renee
January 21st, 2010 at 5:49 pm
I haven’t bought an enriched book before, but love the idea! I’ve really enjoyed the Lady Julia Grey series, and can see how it would lend itself to the concept.
Cynthia Simon
January 21st, 2010 at 6:27 pm
I’ve bought an enriched book before, and they’re slightly different from the non enriched versions, but I love them all the same.
Deanna Raybourn
January 21st, 2010 at 7:43 pm
They are such a fun addition to the text–and if any of you readers of the Lady Julia series have ideas for enriched content that you would like to see, be sure to email me and let me know. It just might make it into the next ebook! You can reach me at deannaraybourn@yahoo.com.
For those of you who have bought enriched ebooks, what kind of content do you like best?
Martha
January 24th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
I’ve never bought an enriched book before, but I enjoy getting DVDs of tv shows and they always have extra content that I really enjoy. I always like to find out how authors get ideas for the books they write and their stories about writing their book are always interesting.
Andrea
January 25th, 2010 at 1:37 am
Yes, I’ve bought and enjoyed several enriched ebooks. I like the added features such as pictures, letters, recipes, and author notes. I always try to buy the enriched edition if it is offered for an ebook.
Nancy
January 25th, 2010 at 10:39 am
I have only recently given ebooks a consideration. Space is the greatest benefit as far as I’m concerned. Books are overtaking my home. Ebooks seem to be a perfect solution; therefore, enriched ebooks sound like an perfect solution with added benefits. I’ll be checking out enriched ebooks by my favorite authors.
Georgia
January 25th, 2010 at 11:07 am
I haven’t yet, but plan to soon.
Lara H.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:07 am
I’ve always bought Deanna’s books in hard copy, but it sounds fantastic!!
Kristin
January 25th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I haven’t bought an eBook yet, but this blog post makes me want to! It’s like DVDs with extra tidbits.
Tina Toburen
January 25th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I have never bought an enriched ebook before, I haven’t quite jumped on the ereader bandwagon yet..however, with options like this available it makes getting one very tempting.
Leslie
January 25th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
I’m intrigued and always riveted to anything written by Deanna Raybourn.
Emily
January 25th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I haven’t purchased an enriched ebook yet, but the concept makes sense! It would be fun finding the “Easter eggs” in enriched ebooks.
Ashley Singleton
January 25th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I have bought a few enriched ebooks.
I have Deanna Raybourn’s “Silent in the Sanctuary” and “Silent on the Moor”, actually.
I made the Plum Pudding recipe included in the back of “Sanctuary” and the Baked Mushrooms recipe in “Moor”. It was great!
Really looking forward to “The Dead Travel Fast”!
Michelle
January 25th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
I haven’t bought one yet, but it now seems I simply must!
Debbie
January 25th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
I haven’t bought enriched ebooks before but I’m excited to know there is more to add to the atmosphere of Lady Julia. I’m espcially interested in the letters to other family members and pictures.
deety
January 25th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
I bought the enriched edition of Silent on the Moor, and enjoyed it.
My favorite extra features are things that give me more info or background about the characters. For historical novels, it would also be fun to see a suggested nonfiction reading list about the locations or time period. I’m not so crazy about pictures. It’s not as if I mind them, but images of the characters or settings never look like what I’ve imagined while reading, so they don’t add much for me.
This is the first I’ve heard of an enriched edition of Silent in the Grave. It’s exciting, but since I already had a kindle edition now I get to decide if I should also get the upgrade. I love my Kindle, but that whole “think about a book and instantly buy it” thing is a constant source of temptation!
Debra
January 25th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I’ve never bought an enriched ebook before. I’m looking forward to seeing the recipes Deanna has included.
Patricia
January 25th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
No, I’ve never bought one, but now I’m really interested. I think Deanna is just a wonderful author and wait eagerly for her next books.
Dana
January 25th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
I’ve never purchased an enriched ebook, but I would like to see the added features. I think having an enriched version for the Kindle would be an interesting idea.
Deanna Raybourn
January 27th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Thanks for the kind words–and since I’m creating the enriched content for THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST right now, I’ll be sure to include a recipe! (Glad you enjoyed them, Ashley. And that the mushrooms didn’t leave any casualties behind!)
Kim
January 27th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier. I haven’t purchased an online book with extra content, but it’s a great idea. I’m looking forward to your next book.
Teia Collier
January 28th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
I bought an enriched ebook by Niccola and it was lovely. As a former history teacher and certified history buff, I love it.
I just bought Silent in the Grave hard-copy, now I wish I had ordered the e-book. Oh well, I’ll grab them the next time.