Invest in Author
A proof-of-concept prototype version of Liquid | Author is ready for commercialising.
Investment Sought
I am seeking investments to pay for coding to:
or:
then:
I am therefore seeing $100,000 for a year of development, first for Liquid | Author and then for the Dynamic View.
Revenue
Author will be made available for free, with In-App-Upgrades so that the barrier to entry for trial is very low and the payment is only for a clearly understood, immediate benefit:
In-App-Upgrades for $10 Each
Competing applications in the macOS App Store, as listed by MacWorld
full-featured word processors
minimalist word processors
There is a healthy ecosystem of thriving word processors on the market, in part because of the stagnation of both Microsoft Word and Apple's Pages, which does not focus on the student author. A relatively new segment is minimalist word processors, which provides a visually clear environment but does not focus on rich features.
Marketing
I have hosted the annual Future of Text Symposium since 2011 with a host of industry leaders, so my network of people who are interested in cheer-leading an advanced word processing system is large and solid.
Liquid | Author will initally be promoted to university students at my university; the University of Southampton, where I am currently a PhD student.
Implementation Phases
Future:
Who I am
I am currently on a full-time, scholarship-funded PhD program in Computer Science at The University of Southampton under Dame Wendy Hall and Les Carr, with the research proposal “Augmenting Intellectual Freedom of Movement through Richly Interactive Text and Citations” of whcih Author is an important part.
I also host the annual Future of Text Symposium which has been running since 2011. For lists of panellists and recorded talks, please visit the site.
I developed the Liquid | Flow software, which received these reviews: MacUser: Revolutionary. 5/5 Mice. Macworld UK: Liquid is highly recommended. Mashable: Liquid upgrades your entire OS X system into a seamless work machine. MEVVY: Increase productivity and improve your workflow. TUAW: One of those utilities that you can’t live without once you start using it. Softpedia: 4/5 stars. The Next Web: Lets you find amazing context to every word on the internet. Cult Of Mac: Liquid helps information flow smoothly. LifeHacker: Speeds up transferring text between apps, searching, translating, and more. BBC: So useful you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it. CNN: A great tool. Wired: Information wants to be Liquid.
I was a teacher at London College of Communication and plan to return to teaching after completing my PhD as well as continuing to build interactive text systems.
Frode Hegland
my CV: frodehegland.com
email me at: frode@hegland.com
Lastly, Video Presentations
A walkthrough of Author macOS:
I presented Author At The Future of Text Symposium @ Google HQ 2016, as part of a call for supporting and nurturing ever deeper literacies: The Author presentation starts at 1:45 mins into this session:
(direct URL to the correct time: https://youtu.be/iZvCeYOh1zY?t=5200 )
When will text be valued not just for its historical importance,
but also for it's future potential?
© Frode Hegland 2020