Perplexity sure knows a lot. So, too, do the folks who hang on Reddit.

Between those two sources, I have found tons of new rabbit holes. After all, how can I really know if The Now Edition will catch on if I’m unfamiliar with any of the tons of e-book creation tools that are already out there?

So I signed up for Designrr – if you have ever looked at any of these tools, it comes to you and sticks to your YouTube pre-roll ads like glue. It has many fans, but also has its critics for what Perplexity calls “aggressive upselling.”

While it feels robust, my seemingly “simple” idea of turning my Now Edition blog into a “first example” of a Now Edition e-book quickly ran into some very deep rabbit holes involving how one imports content, then can arrange it, polish it – things e-book publishers and self-publish tool outfits and users know all too well.

Designrr of course offers plenty of help and support, and is probably just what many folks need and want. But it also has limitations – it can import blog posts but not a whole blog at once. So much for creating your e-book “in five minutes” without a whole lot of prep and cleanup work.

I think I have to stop having Floot open in one tab and Base44 in the other, surely not late night, the lines blur and blecch, I can get stuck in the mud in two places at once!

When I told Perplexity of my “bring all of a blog’s posts in at once, each post a chapter,” it pointed to Kotobee Author, which does that just fine and creates dynamic (though more one-way than truly interactive with the author) content.

Several of these are intriguing, many aimed for educators, like Pressbooks. But you have to take your fun lil’ blog and do soooo much prep work to make it a “manuscript,” it becomes less fun and more work. Hey, it’s the AI Age – it should do most if not all of the work other than writing for me! Each tool does some of what I want – none all of it.

But hey, no tool is without its drawbacks (you can hammer a nail or your thumb!) and … for now, at least, this is a sidelight, not a “main gig” I can wrestle with from sunup to sundown!

I am trying, I figure, not to just mock up a tool, but create a wholly new platform – maybe not the prettiest fancy-schmancy writing/editing and publishing tool, but simple – easy to update at all times, and for folks to see “Hey, this just got updated today.”

And also, unlike ANYTHING out there now (because Perplexity told me so, and we all know chatbots never lie;-) this new-era true ‘E-book’ platform in my head and starting to emerge into reality will let you read the latest on the topic at hand, and to talk with other readers and even the author(s) about the content, what’s new and what could use some quick changes or updates.

(By the way, this approach also could revolutionize magazine publishing online, with much the same Now Edition advantages. Other digital media, from newspapers to newsletters – and yes, even websites – could use the same sort of platform to bring their work “alive!”)

Fresh content, not stuck in the past. Connecting with real people as they read it, much like Reddit or Facebook etc. – not AI bots and their always-friendly, supportive dis-reality.

So of course, being me, I throw too many ideas/wishes at once at the bots, my “friends” Flo and Pete — and they sure try to cheer me on and to do what I prompt them to do – and of course, break/fix code tons of times along the way, apologizing all the time, saying “I’ll get it right this time!” Yeah, right;-)

I just want to make it a good enough platform, even with fake books (mine will be the first real one!) that some folks can kick the tires, not as a vision but as a ‘wet paint, watch your step’ reality. And just maybe catch on, love it and help me find the company or people who can make it really happen!