Using Novel Effect
Find your book in the app, tap print, and set your device aside. When you hear the start chime Novel Effect is ready to follow along as you read aloud from your copy of the print book. Our patented speech recognition system will keep up with your personal reading style by following your pace and your voice.
Yes! To connect a Bluetooth speaker or mirror to Apple TV, first go to your device’s Settings, select Bluetooth, then select your device from the list of available options.
Within the Novel Effect app, select the book you plan to read aloud, then tap the ‘Connect’ icon at the bottom of the screen and select your connected device.
You can also use an auxiliary cord to connect your device to speakers through the device headphone jack or charging port.
Almost any Bluetooth speaker should work. They range in cost from <$10 all the way over $100 depending on how much amplification you need.
For a bedroom, nearly any low-end Bluetooth speaker should work.
For a classroom, you can get great Bluetooth speakers for under $20. A 5-Watt speaker produces enough power for most 25-student classrooms.
iPhone or iPad: Some combinations of iOS devices and operating systems have noticeably low output volume. To correct this, visit the “More” section at the bottom of your app, tap “Test audio performance,” then follow the instructions.
General audio issues may arise for a variety of reasons. These issues might include no sound at all, or sounds that do not seem to change. Here is a list of possible solutions:
- Make sure the volume level on your device or speakers is set to an appropriate level.
- As you’re using a soundscape if volume indicator is consistently above the halfway point when you’re not reading, try minimizing the noise in the surrounding environment.
- Make sure nothing is blocking your microphone so that Novel Effect can hear you read aloud.
- Removing some phone and tablet case will improve microphone reliability.
We’re always here to help, contact customer support at support@noveleffect.com.
Yes. To use Novel Effect on your Chromebook, search for the app in the Google Play Store on your Chromebook device and install.
Not yet, but we are working on it! While a web-based Novel Effect app is still in Alpha testing we will be inviting a limited group of Read-aloud Rockstars to join our Beta later this fall.
To stay up-to-date on our progress and request to join the Beta testing group fill out the form on this page.
In the meantime, you can share your phone or tablet screen to your computer on Zoom, Meet, or Teams!
Yes. If you’re using the same device to run Novel Effect and to read your ebook, first select the book in the app and tap print. Then, move the Novel Effect app to the background and open the ebook reader app.
On iOS devices, the red bar at the top left of your screen means Novel Effect is running in the background and will follow along as usual while you read aloud from your ebook.
If you are using separate devices, treat your first device as a physical book, and read aloud with Novel Effect running on your second device.
Novel Effect primarily works when you read aloud from your own copy of the book. If you don’t see an ‘ebook’ option in the app, then you need to have your own printed copy of the book on hand.
What is Novel Effect?
The award-winning Novel Effect app offers a library of interactive music and sound effects to enrich your regular storytime routine. When you read aloud with a child from real books, Novel Effect responds at the right moment, creating magical moments.
Download the Novel Effect mobile app for free in the App Store and in the Google Play Store.
Novel Effect provides voice-driven soundscapes to complement children’s picture books as you read them aloud.
Each book listing in our growing library is hand-picked by experts to meet the needs of diverse learners at every stage. Professional composers design the immersive and interactive music, sound effects, and character voices in our soundscapes, to match each book’s spirit and tone. See our full list of compatible titles.
We also provide voice interactive videos. When you to read your lines out loud as they appear on screen the video story moves forward.
All content is rated for kids 12 and under.
Find your book in the app, tap print, and set your device aside. When you hear the start chime Novel Effect is ready to follow along as you read aloud from your copy of the print book. Our patented speech recognition system will keep up with your personal reading style by following your pace and your voice.
Yes. To enjoy Novel Effect you’ll need a copy of the book you want to read aloud, either in print or as an ebook.
As a Premium subscriber, you get unlimited access to hundreds of ebooks right in the app. Some soundscapes may only work when you read aloud from your own print copy of the book.
It’s the custom designed music, sound effects, and character voices that play in response to your voice to complement read alouds with popular kids books and poetry. Go behind the scenes with our soundscape designers.
Plans and discounts
For parents and families, there are 2 plans to choose from, Free and Premium.
The Premium plans for families and educators offer the same level of access with special pricing available for educators and librarians. Family and Educator plans are available our website and through the app, which is free to download in the App Store and in the Google Play Store.
For schools, there are 3 plans to choose from:
- School Library Plan gives access to 5 teachers and up to 30 library devices within a school.
- All Teachers gives access to all teachers within a school.
- All Teachers and Students gives access to all teachers and students within a school.
School plans are available through our website. Purchase orders are accepted. Please request a School Plan quote if necessary.
Free Novel Effect offers soundscapes for children’s picture books curated for teachers, librarians, kids and families. Each month, enjoy unlimited access to “free reads” and limited access to the soundscapes for other select books.
“Free reads” are always available to enjoy as much as you like. Look for the infinity symbol on the book’s cover in-app or search “free” in the app’s search bar.
For parents or individual educators, a Novel Effect Premium subscription offers unlimited access to our growing library of soundscapes for popular picture books, hundreds of in-app ebooks, and exclusive content including differentiated book activities.
TO ACCESS BOOK ACTIVITIES: Premium iOS Subscribers can access book activities directly in their app. This feature will soon be available on Android devices, too! If you would still like to download from the site, you will receive an email after subscribing with a special code to use at checkout to download an activity pack for free.
If the code isn’t in your inbox, please contact us, send us an email, or open the chat window in the bottom right corner of your browser window!
A Novel Effect School Plan offers unlimited access to our growing library of soundscapes for popular picture books, hundreds of in-app ebooks, and exclusive content including differentiated book activities.
For schools, there are 3 plans to choose from:
- School Library Plan gives access to 5 teachers and up to 30 library devices within a school.
- All Teachers gives access to all teachers within a school.
- All Teachers and Students gives access to all teachers and students within a school.
School plans are available through our website. Purchase orders are accepted. Please request a School Plan quote if necessary.
TO ACCESS BOOK ACTIVITIES: New School Plan subscribers will receive an email with the code to use each time at checkout to download an activity pack for free. Our team is working to make this a more streamlined experience (to access the resources using a login feature), but we aren’t there quite yet.
Add any book activity on our website to your cart. At checkout, enter the coupon code sent to your email for free access included with your School Plan!
If the code isn’t in your inbox, please contact us, send us an email, or open the chat window in the bottom right corner of your browser window!
Yes! In fact, special pricing for teachers, librarians, and other individual educators includes 20% off our regular annual plans.
Reach out to us at support@noveleffect.com. We’ll see what we can do.
Whole School subscriptions are now available through the Scholastic Fairs Catalog. Log in and search “Novel Effect”.
NOTE: Only Whole School subscriptions are available through Scholastic Book Fairs.
Absolutely!
For school quotes: Fill out the school quote request form. Then send us a copy of the approved purchase order and we will set up access while payments work their way through your system.
For Library quotes: Fill out the public library quote request form or the library patron quote request form, depending on the access your library would prefer to have.
We’re happy to help. Please reach out to support@noveleffect.com.
Technical Support
If you don’t see the email, check your spam folder, ask your IT department to add our list of backend services to your school’s allowlist:
*.noveleffect.com
*.googleapis.com
*.firebaseio.com
*.cloudfunctions.net
*.firebase.co
*.app-measurement.com
*.revenuecat.com
Contact customer support at support@noveleffect.com. Please include your phone number in case our emails are not being received.
There are a few reasons why an error could occur. Check the specific error message to see if a reason is provided. Then, if you are on a wifi network, try again using cellular.
The Novel Effect app is compatible with mobile and tablet devices. It’s available to download for free in the App Store and in the Google Play Store. For our voice-driven book experience we recommend devices running iOS 11.0+ or Android 6.0 Marshmallow and up.
For our video experience we recommend the following devices:
- iPhone 6S
- iPad (5th generation)
- iPad Air (2nd generation)
- iPad Mini (4th generation)
- iPod Touch (7th generation)
- Any Android device running Android OS 6 and up
Go to the email login screen in the Novel Effect app and tap the link to reset your password. After entering your email address, you’ll receive an email with further instructions.
If you don’t see the email, check your spam folder, ask your IT department to add our list of backend services to your school’s allowlist, or contact customer support at support@noveleffect.com. Please include your phone number in case our emails are not being received.
Log out of the app by visiting the More tab and taping “sign out”. Once you are logged out, tap “log in” on the account selection screen. When prompted for your email and password tap “reset password” below the main log in button and follow the in app instructions.
If you don’t see the email, check your spam folder, ask your IT department to add our list of backend services to your school’s allowlist, or contact customer support at support@noveleffect.com. Please include your phone number in case our emails are not being received.
Our system uses voice recognition powered by Keen Research and other components to play music and sounds based on your personal reading style.
Whether you’re using a video conferencing platform, live streaming, or pre-recording a video to share later, these resources will help you use Novel Effect remotely with your little learners.
Partnering with Novel Effect
We’re always adding to our library and support authors large and small! Submit your book for review on our authors page or contact our team at authors@noveleffect.com for details on how to get your books added to Novel Effect.
Absolutely! We’d love to talk with you about working with our platform. Fill out our contact form or email us at partners@noveleffect.com.
Other
Sometimes, firewalls on school’s wifi can block access to the app. If you are trying to sign in on the app and can’t, or you are trying to download a book and can’t, this may be the culprit. This issue can be solved by having IT add our list of backend services to the school’s allowlist:
- *.googleapis.com
- *.firebaseio.com
- *.cloudfunctions.net
- *.firebase.co
- *.app-measurement.com
- *.revenuecat.com