Kids and interactive eBooks based on open standards enable publishers to deliver a single file supported on all major digital reading devices

 

Cleveland – May 27, 2014 – OverDrive, the leading eBook and audiobook supplier to booksellers, schools, and libraries announced today that OverDrive Read now supports a broad range of enhanced titles based on EPUB3. The leading browser-based eBook platform compatible with PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, and Android tablets and smartphones now faithfully displays children’s picture books, textbooks using complex layout, and other enhanced titles produced using EPUB3, HTML5, media overlays (synchronized audio), and other open industry standards.

As a founding member of the IDPF, OverDrive has been promoting the use of non-proprietary eBook and audiobook formats to enable authors and publishers to reach the largest audience of readers, as well as create the industry’s easiest experience to discover, sample, and read. Sample more than 1 million titles using OverDrive Read at www.overdrive.com.

“Publishers can now take advantage of OverDrive’s EPUB3 support to create enhanced eBooks using open standards that display children’s picture books as the author and publisher intended, as well as to add interactive elements within the page to further engage the reader,” said Alexis Petric-Black, OverDrive’s Director of Publisher Services. “OverDrive Read’s support of EPUB3 fixed layout, HTML5, and synchronized audio enables publishers to produce a single eBook title supported on any digital reading device with a modern browser.”

OverDrive Read technology also now offers increased sharing and discovering, by enabling readers to instantly view a sample of an eBook within a web page with the option to then purchase or find the title in a library. OverDrive’s embedded samples are viewed in a “ReadBox,” and easily shared through social media, links, blog posts, and other digital communication. To see a sample of “The Snow Queen” eBook embedded within a book review on Huffington Post, click here.

See demonstrations in booths #1638 and #1639 at BookExpo America (BEA) 2014 at the Javits Center, New York City, May 28-31. OverDrive will be showcasing embedded eBook samples, as well as innovative enhanced eBook features such as fixed layout, synched audio and text, interactivity, and much more.

 

About OverDrive

OverDrive is the leading global digital distribution platform, supplying the industry’s largest catalog of eBooks, audiobooks, music and streaming video to 30,000 libraries, schools and retailers worldwide. We support all major computers and devices, including iPhone®, iPad®, Nook®, Android™ phones and tablets, and Kindle® (U.S. only). OverDrive offers all digital media on a single platform, and offers APIs to streamline a seamless user experience. We also offer in-library touchscreen stations for browsing and instant sampling of eBooks or audiobooks, and OverDrive Read, the EPUB and HTML5 browser-based reading experience, among other world-class products and services. Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland, Ohio USA. www.overdrive.com.

Contact:

David Burleigh

Director of Marketing & Communications

dburleigh@overdrive.com

216-573-6886 ext. 218

 

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