The lesson to learn from the apps listed here is that the story remains king and no matter how much interaction becomes accessible to us, the words form the script that the images follow.

The Novel (capital T, capital N) is not under threat from this technology.

One interesting new arrival is an iPad/iPhone app called What They Speak When They Speak to Me. When you open the iPad version it consists of a black screen with white(ish) letters of the alphabet swimming around and little else. It is a pleasing artwork in its own right.

You can see the increasing importance of digital publishing by taking a look at The Bookseller 100 , the definitive list of the most influential people in the UK book trade.

“The truth is that Apple will take meetings with Canongate, but they’re not going to chat to PopLeaf.”