Young readers naturally move between physical and digital media. For publishers, this raises an increasingly important question: How can books remain present between reading moments while creating new touchpoints with their audience across different platforms?   

Using Ueberreuter's ueberstories: Story Game App as a case study, the speakers demonstrate how publishers can expand their brands and fictional worlds through digital and interactive experiences. Within a publisher-owned multimedia platform, printed books, e-books, and new formats such as interactive stories and exclusive digital content are brought together into one connected ecosystem. This creates additional opportunities for readers to regularly return to the worlds of their favourite series, characters, and brands, while enabling publishers to build long-term engagement beyond individual book releases. The talk provides insights into the collaboration between publisher, author, and games industry, illustrating through practical examples how existing book worlds can be extended with interactive experiences while keeping the book itself at the heart of the overall experience. As a live case study, the successful Zauberakademie Siebenstern brand demonstrates how new interactive content can be developed around an existing literary IP.   

The second half of the session becomes interactive: together with the audience, the speakers will create a short playable story live on stage within the Zauberakademie Siebenstern universe. Participants will make decisions, contribute ideas, and experience first-hand how new digital stories and interactive experiences can emerge from an existing book IP.   Combining a real-world case study, live demonstration, and audience participation, the session explores how interactive formats can strengthen worldbuilding, reader engagement, and new forms of storytelling across the publishing industry.