-  Simple Keynote-like interface that allows for easy customization of your book
-  Add custom text, images, charts and other forms of media, including interactive widgets (picture galleries, 3D objects and even custom HTML)
-  Easy layout management and custom templates
-  Importing chapters from Microsoft Word and Apple Pages

The list of features goes on and on. Like many Apple inventions, it will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the publishing industry and it will likely lead to a dramatic increase in the number of authors and titles in the iBookstore. However, for all its many benefits, iBooks Author doesn’t address one of the major challenges publishers face today – having to produce their titles in different formats for different vendors. If anything, it’s only compounded the problem further.

No one can produce an ePub and expect it to work on any eReader. The .mobi file that plays nice with your Kindle devices is utterly unusable on your Nook and the customized ePub variant of that popular kids book looks great on your Nook tablet, but good luck trying to read it to your child on your iPad. In order for publishers (and self-publishing authors) to reach all of their potential customers, they need to create different versions of the same book. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a one size fits all solution where you could buy a digital book and read it on any device you wanted?

The hope was that iBooks Author would be a step in that direction and help to consolidate the current eBook production workflow. Instead, it further adds to the complexity of the conversion process by creating another proprietary eBook format. In addition to .mobi, .epub and .epub variants, Publishers now have to consider creating an iBooks only version of their books that can only be sold in the iBookstore.

Arguably, it’s in Apple’s best interest to try and keep you in their ecosystem – and not just them, Amazon and B&N are equally guilty – but they’re all doing a disservice to their customers by restricting us from reading the books we purchased on anything other than their devices. Creating YET another proprietary ebook format certainly isn’t helping and with iBooks Author, it looks like certain books (primarily textbooks) won’t even be available outside of the iBookstore further limiting our choices as end users.

Mr. Rosen has served on many new-business-launch teams, and specializes in integrating digital and print reading experiences. He is founder of InsightOutBooks and the editorial support company WordsthatMatter, Inc.

Mr. Rosen has been Publisher of Abrams Image, where he acquired the New York Times Bestsellers Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style and Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy through Jokes, and championed the acquisition of Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

The recipient of many awards for his achievements and his dedication to the transforming power of the written word—including a GLAAD Media Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Temple University Robertson Prize. Mr. Rosen often speaks on panels about trends in publishing and book-selling. Mr. Rosen’s blogs, book reviews, poetry, and nonfiction pieces have been published in several venues, including most recently on the New York Times and The Progressive Reader websites.

Mr. Rosen attended Temple University, where he received an M.A. in English Literature with a concentration in Publishing Procedures. He graduated summa cum laude from Elmira College, where he was named a Hamilton Scholar and inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

Mr. Park holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a minor in mathematics.

Mr. Lee received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Tufts University.

Prior to forming Invogen, Mr. Du was a Director with Alvarez & Marsal Business Consulting, LLC, specializing in aligning business strategies with information technology solutions. Before Alvarez & Marsal, he was a Senior Manager with Accenture’s Global Technology Consulting practice focused on designing and building innovative technology solutions for clients. Mr. Du also worked as a project leader at ABN AMRO and an investor relations consultant at Taylor Rafferty.

Mr. Du holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College. He also holds intellectual property patents from the United States and European Union for his research in digital asset and rights management, and has held technology certifications from Microsoft, Novell and Veritas.

Mr. Chiu holds a Master and Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ms. Cappelson has a B.A in English Literature from Wesleyan University.

Content publishers can leverage Invogen’s eBook Conversion services to monetize current and backlist titles, as well as grouping magazine and newspaper articles to create an enhanced eBook.

To learn more, click on eBook Conversion services.

To develop the right strategy and revenue model, we first strive to understand your business objectives, customer base and revenue model. We then develop a road map to implement the strategy and apply the necessary investments required for the transformation. Invogen has extensive experience in providing clients a technology blueprint and architecture aligned with their business vision.