Entries tagged with “widget” from Tools of Change for Publishing

Google Book Search Listings Now Embeddable

Mac Slocum
September 22, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

Titles from from Google's Book Search index can now be embedded in non-Google Web pages. From Inside Google Book Search:

We're launching a set of free tools that allow retailers, publishers, and anyone with a web site to embed books from the Google Book Search index. We are also providing new ways for these sites to display full-text search results from Book Search, and even integrate with social features such as ratings, reviews, and readers' book collections.

Google's Preview tool is already being used by publishers (including O'Reilly), retailers, libraries and other sites.

Basic Book Search previews are generated through Google's preview wizard (example below). Customized results can be built with the Book Search APIs.

Embedded Book Search example:

Related Stories:

• Google Opens Book Search with API
• Google Book Search: It's All About the Index
• A Glimpse into Google's Book Scanning
• Google Scanning Newspaper Archives

"Prince Caspian" Gets Read It Before You See It Campaign

Mac Slocum
March 17, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

HarperCollins has a new "read it before you see it campaign" attached to the upcoming theatrical release of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."

The marketing program includes a Facebook profile and interactive game (see image above), Narnia trivia, contests, a Narnia widget that can be embedded on any Web site, and book information.

The Facebook and widget components are notable because they represent a clear effort to engage the target audience (kids) on familiar ground (social networks, blogs, etc.). Back in the day, a program like this would have been relegated to a microsite and maybe a few text ads. Now, the openness of Web 2.0 creates all sorts of new engagement opportunities -- both for companies and the audiences they seek.

(Via Shelf Awareness.)