Frankfurt, Germany – Aquafadas, innovative developer of digital publishing solutions, is now previewing its new cloud-based digital platform, AQ Cloud Authoring, at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Running from October 9-13, book fair attendees can visit Aquafadas (stand E67 in hall 8) for the first-hand look at the newest addition to the company’s award-winning digital publishing technology offering.
AQ Cloud Authoring lets just about anyone looking to publish an eBook easily convert PDF files into digital format and distribute across tablets, smartphones and the Web. With simple-to-use production tools, users can re-order and crop pages as well as add enrichments like Guided Reading, a unique Aquafadas capability that allows readers to glide smoothly through text with one simple tap. AQ Cloud Authoring’s flexible export options include ePUB, AVE (for publishing apps) and the WebReader.
“While we officially began work on AQ Cloud Authoring a year ago, we poured approximately seven years of our existing digital publishing R&D into building this new platform,” said Thomas Ribreau, technical director at Aquafadas. “With AQ Cloud Authoring, our goal was to close the gap between what customers did manually versus what could be automated, simplifying the overall digital publishing workflow while greatly accelerating production time. And AQ Cloud Authoring does exactly this, fulfilling just about any publishing need – from corporations looking for an easy way to publish marketing materials and beginners just getting into digital publishing, to publishing giants looking to push large numbers of titles automatically to mobile devices within a matter of minutes.”
Digital Publishing on Cloud Nine:
AQ Cloud Authoring makes it simple for publishers to quickly create near exact replicas of any print publication, requiring only an Internet connection to convert files. The intuitive workflow, which is designed for non-technical users, supports all document types – magazines, books, marketing collateral and more. Authors just upload files into AQ Cloud Authoring, fill out the metadata, then add enrichments, and make simple adjustments, such as cropping or re-ordering the pages. Before purchasing the final product, users can take content through a test-spin on the spot by downloading 30% of the file for free.
Volume Publishing That Saves Money and Time:
AQ Cloud Authoring also lets publishers turn large volumes of PDF files into digital content in a matter of minutes. No longer do organizations need to spend additional time and resources to painstakingly recreate titles into digital-specific formats. With AQ Cloud Authoring, users can easily convert vast archives or mass-produced content in just ten minutes, providing a fast and affordable way for publishers to offer a wide variety of material on tablets and the web.
Ouest-France, which boasts an impressive 2.5 million daily readers making it one of France’s most popular daily newspaper, is beta testing the new AQ Cloud Authoring to digitally distribute its 53 local issues to subscribers every day. “By utilizing the AQ Cloud Authoring platform, we were able to create a digital presence that met our readers’ expectations,” states Fabrice Bazard, SIPA group director of digital development at Ouest-France. “For quality reasons, we were looking for a partner able to process and automate our content flow exactly. To our full satisfaction, Aquafadas succeeded in delivering this automation. Publishing on iPad and iPhone is the first step of our digital deployment. We also plan to deploy the newspaper on Google, possibly on other tablets and on our website. Using Aquafadas tools, we are able to use the same digital publishing workflow for all these platforms.”
The daily task is completed in less than an hour with more than 650 pages converted and published by AQ Cloud Authoring. Local editions are automatically pushed to each subscriber’s device Monday through Sunday, allowing readers to instantly enjoy the newspaper’s daily digital editions with added enrichments such as page-by-page and article-by-article navigation, and embedded slideshows.
“Working with the publishing teams to release Ouest-France on iPad and iPhone has been a pleasure, and we appreciate that this launch is the first in a long list. With the Ouest-France project, AQ Cloud Authoring has shown its ability to effectively support the substantial digital publishing workloads of publishers: automating more than 95% of the conversion and distribution work, making it possible to create high-quality content for tablets,” says Claudia Zimmer, president of Aquafadas.
Small Publishers Get on the Fast (and Cost-Effective) Track to ePublishing:
Aquafadas Cloud Authoring removes the barriers to digital publishing for companies working with smaller budgets, resources or both. With AQ Cloud Authoring, it’s simply a matter of converting a PDF file by uploading it into your server for conversion and distribution to either WebReader or ePUB or an App. AQ Cloud Authoring manages the technical complexities of file formats behind the scenes. The transparent workflow eliminates the need for additional technical resources. “With easy-to-use tools and budget-friendly distribution options, AQ Cloud Authoring has made it very easy for just about anyone to adopt a digital strategy and enter the digital publishing world,” Zimmer comments. “We look forward to helping individuals and organizations alike realize their digital publishing initiatives and sharing the many new and exciting features planned in AQ Cloud Authoring in the months ahead.”
AQ Cloud Authoring will be available Q4 2013. For more information on AQ Cloud Authoring and other Aquafadas solutions, please visit the company’s website.
Aquafadas
Aquafadas AQ Cloud Authoring (pdf)
Aquafadas, a pioneer in digital publishing technology, enables the creation and mass distribution of graphics rich, interactive digital content such as books, comics, corporate documents, magazines, and newspapers, across all major platforms including smartphones, tablets and the web. Businesses all over the world rely on Aquafadas’ purpose-built content creation and distribution solutions to achieve their digital publishing strategies, significantly expanding content reach while lowering overhead costs. In addition to the Aquafadas Digital Publishing Solution, the company’s line of award-winning creative software is utilized daily by thousands of graphic designers, web developers, photographers and video editors from the avid enthusiast to the seasoned professional. A Rakuten group business, Aquafadas also provides its technological expertise to Kobo, the world’s fastest growing e-reader provider. All Material and Software (C) Copyright 2013 Aquafadas. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.