Testing, testing.... Video to Ebook, a peek into production
Ebook, video, video, ebook…. Some people like video better, others like ebooks. Ever since I started creating videos last year, I had a flood of requests and pleas to continue producing ebooks. Some people cannot watch videos, others like the portability printing the ebooks and taking them to their workspaces, others have no patience to watch through the entire thing. Meanwhile, visual learners want to see every single detail, how I drew this or that, and need to “watch over my shoulder”. I get it, people are not the same and learn in different ways!
The only problem was…. ebooks take a LOT longer to produce than videos.
Just for a comparison, the production life cycle of a video is about 2 weeks, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. There are about 62 items I need to check off from my “Video Production Life Cycle” before releasing a new lesson. Coming up with the idea, experimenting, failing, experimenting again, developing the prototypes, recording, discarding, recording again, editing the videos and preparing all the materials that accompany a video lesson, imagery and previews, are just a few of the items.
An ebook, on the other hand, might take 1 month and half! Coming up with the ideas, experimenting, developing the prototypes, photographing each and every step of the process, then writing the text, editing dozens of pictures, formatting the final book and preparing supportive imagery previews, the list goes on and on. Whew!
Until…. now.
I present to you my first “Video to Ebook” lesson, an experiment.
After searching and searching, I finally discovered a way to create an ebook that is an almost identical transcription of the video, without having to create dozens of screengrabs. Don't get me wrong, it still requires quite a bit of capturing, editing and formatting, but nowhere as time consuming as a regular ebook.
The ebook will contain dozens — LITERALLY dozens of screengrabs from the video, with each and every step of the process. The first one has a whopping 156 pictures in 47 pages, accompanied by text extracted directly from the video.
The tone of the text is conversational, because it is literally a transcription of the video lesson. I'll grant you, it's a lot less polished than my ebook text. That's why this first version, based on the video lesson Square Medallions, is a TEST, an experiment. If people like the “video to ebook” and the format is well received, I'll create more, supplying a need that is long overdue.
The first “Video to Ebook” will be available in just a few days, and it will be first distributed to Art Club subscribers — these loyal followers receive everything and anything that I produce. Then it will be available to the general public through my regular shop on EniOken.com, Gumroad and Etsy.
The cost of the ebook will be exactly the same as the video — after all, students are not purchasing simply a video or an ebook, they are acquiring knowledge and technique they want to learn from me. I hope this works well, if it does then I'll start randomly transforming some of my more requested video lessons into ebooks.
If you get the ebook, I would love to get your honest and sincere “Caring Critique” about the new format — positive or negative, either way, it's always helpful!
You can send me email here.
This is what people said about the first “Video to Ebook” PDF:
The stunning Wyfore Medallion video class is now available for individual purchase at my video shop. This is a 2:30 hour of video recording showing how to create this amazing medallion.