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:

 

  • Complete a basic Liquid | Author word processor if I only manage to raise a smaller amount of less than $10,000

or:

  • Complete a re-write of Liquid | Author for higher performance and to prepare for the Dynamic View. This will cost something between $1,600 per week for a part time expert level coder, upwards. I expect this to be done in 6 months, if done part time, at a total of $40,000 which is only an estimate at this stage

then:

  • Build the integrated Dynamic View which would need to be costed first but a current estimate is about the same as a re-written Author, so about $40,000

 

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

 

  • Export module allows the student to publish their documents to the correct specification for their university instantly, including with correct citation handling and formatting.
  • The Dynamic View functionality will be made available once Liquid | Author is complete.

 

 

 

Competing applications in the macOS App Store, as listed by MacWorld

 

full-featured word processors

 

  • Word costs £60 a year
  • LibreOffice Vanilla is free
  • Apple's own Pages is a full-featured word processor and it's free
  • Scrivener which sells for £44 and is number 6 in the UK App Store
    • Scapple which is similar to Dynamic View in appearance sells for £15
  • Ulysses sells for £44
  • Mellel sells for £38

 

minimalist word processors

 

  • iA Writer costs £10
  • Byword is a visual inspiration for Author and costs £12 with a £3 In-App-Upgrade for export.
  • WriteRoom costs £10

 

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

 

  • Finish implementing a solid build of Liquid | Author. Once this stag is completed we will launch the product and earn revenue for the next stages
  • Dynamic View implementation is the next focus, along with;
  • Liquid Glossaries

 

Future:

 

  • The High Performance Text Manipulation ‘Libraries’.  This is an initiative to put into code and Open Source highly advanced text interaction libraries, so that anyone can add them to their projects. This includes text summarisation and the ability to do smart keyword searches in a document
  • The Advanced Open Document Format to allow rich text documents to be shared between different applications
  • High-Temporal-Resolution Addressing of Time Based Media and efforts to increase the use and power of digital citations, as per the Time Browser initiative.

 

 

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?