The Market of Ukrainian Printed Books with Augmented Reality Assortment, Problems and Communicative Aspects

Augmented reality (AR) in printed books brings new possibilities for enriching the reader’s experience as well as making the product more attractive to customers. In order to investigate the functionality of augmented reality elements in books and the feasibility of their use this article analyses the Ukrainian AR book market; identifies the Ukrainian publishers that use the technology, describes the promotional activities they do for such books; and assesses the possibilities of readers’ access to AR elements in the analysed books. 

Given the small number of books using AR available on Ukrainian market and the lack of a standard in its description the search for such books and publishers was carried out manually. In this research we used both classical methods for the analysis of the book market and publishing products, and a system of methods aimed at the analysis of data atypical for the book market, such as the analysis of technological aspects of software or augmented reality. The first group of publishers consists of specialised publishing houses, for which book production with AR is the main type of activity. The second group includes publishers that have some augmented reality products in the assortment. Within the third group of publishers, books with augmented reality are exclusive; AR technologies are not their area of
interest and development.
The most common way to present information about AR in books is to indicate it on the cover; some books have it mentioned on the websites of publishing houses and bookstores, and others use bibliographic details or front and back information for this purpose. There are mainly children’s fiction and educational AR books in the analysed collection, which use different ways of entering augmented reality, such as a QR code, an application or an Instagram effect triggered by an image. These books incorporate 2D and 3D animation, music, sounds, and voiceover; some include a fully recorded audiobook. Experimental test use of available applications for Android and iOS devices showed some issues in their work due to inconsistency of support, as well as promising possibilities for development. Recommendations on implementing AR elements into publishing products were formulated and possible ways of further research were outlined.