I've spent a lot of time on this blog talking about ebooks and what affect they have and will have on the publishing industry. But I haven't spent a lot of time talking about what it will mean for the books themselves. In general people take it for granted that an ebook is just like a regular book without the paper. But that's not always the case. As technological advances continue to be made in ereaders, ebooks are increasingly being sold with "extras." Hyperlinks to the music a character is listening to, videos of author interviews and whatnot. The only problem with this idea is that clicking on a hyperlink in the middle of a paragraph to listen to a song takes you out of the story, if only for a moment. But still, it's an important moment. When you're lost in the world some author has created for you an awkwardly placed link can mess with that experience.
My friend and a New York Times bestselling author, Alina Adams may have found a way around this. For the last several years she's been writing the Figure Skating Mysteries
. But now she's trying something new with them. She's released a multimedia edition of her novel, Skate Crime. In it she's embedded videos from the Ice Theater in New York but instead of taking you out of the story she's made them an intrinsic part of the story. In a way the videos are like visual paragraphs. So it's like a book-movie, or a movie-book or maybe we should just call it a mook. Whatever it is, it's definitely interesting and in this genre it really works.
I have no doubt that some readers will cluck their tongues and say that while absorbed in a book they want all the pictures to be confined within their own heads. I can already hear the disdainful voices condemning this as a horrible bastardization of real literature.
But you know what? Those aren't the readers who would be picking up a Figure Skating mystery anyway. And let's face it, there isn't anything more visual than figure skating so why not use that to an advantage? This isn't a replacement for books (there will always be some books that I'll want to read in paper form). This is just another form of entertainment for those looking for something new, creative and innovative. Oh and the book is priced at $0.99. I'm a big fan of creative innovation that you can buy for the price of a Kit Kat.
Anyway, it's a project that I'm going to be watching carefully. The ebook revolution isn't just changing the way we shop for and buy books. In some cases it will give authors new and different ways to express their vision. I can't see how that's a bad thing.
Kyra Davis
My friend and a New York Times bestselling author, Alina Adams may have found a way around this. For the last several years she's been writing the Figure Skating Mysteries
. But now she's trying something new with them. She's released a multimedia edition of her novel, Skate Crime. In it she's embedded videos from the Ice Theater in New York but instead of taking you out of the story she's made them an intrinsic part of the story. In a way the videos are like visual paragraphs. So it's like a book-movie, or a movie-book or maybe we should just call it a mook. Whatever it is, it's definitely interesting and in this genre it really works.I have no doubt that some readers will cluck their tongues and say that while absorbed in a book they want all the pictures to be confined within their own heads. I can already hear the disdainful voices condemning this as a horrible bastardization of real literature.
But you know what? Those aren't the readers who would be picking up a Figure Skating mystery anyway. And let's face it, there isn't anything more visual than figure skating so why not use that to an advantage? This isn't a replacement for books (there will always be some books that I'll want to read in paper form). This is just another form of entertainment for those looking for something new, creative and innovative. Oh and the book is priced at $0.99. I'm a big fan of creative innovation that you can buy for the price of a Kit Kat.
Anyway, it's a project that I'm going to be watching carefully. The ebook revolution isn't just changing the way we shop for and buy books. In some cases it will give authors new and different ways to express their vision. I can't see how that's a bad thing.
Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
and
today! 
4 comments:
I agree this is a project that bears watching. I'd love to checkout the multimedia version, but it's not available for the nook yet.
Hi, Kim -
Not to be an overly pushy salesperson (oh, who am I kidding, I am an overly pushy salesperson) but you don't need a Kindle to view this. You can download the Kindle app (for free) to your phone or desktop. Basically, anything that has an Internet connection would work.
Let me know how it goes and thanks for reading!
It's interesting to think about. I've always had great abilities to "see" the story play out in my head as I read, but I have a ton of students who just don't have that capability. They need the visuals sometimes b/c they aren't fortunate enough to have as much background exposure as others. I like the idea. I'm not sure every book could easily insert movie segments into them, but I think some would be fun. It reminds me of that teen book (can't think of the title) that was extremely interactive with phone numbers to call, secret codes to crack, and websites to go to. Kids when nuts over it for awhile, b/c it brought their multi-media minds into an experience they didn't usually associate with anymore. Books/reading are sometimes left behind by younger generations, and multi-media input is sometimes a great way to get people to start reading again. Sometime, they may realize that a good book doesn't necessarily need a movie to go with it.
"...I have no doubt that some readers will cluck their tongues and say that while absorbed in a book they want all the
pictures to be confined within their own heads. I can already hear the disdainful voices condemning this as a horrible bastardization of real literature..."
I suspect the louder complaints will come from way over on the other end of the "is this bastardization of literature?" spectrum ("it's not souped-up *enough,* I want to enjoy the ebook on [this other format/this other ebook-reading hardware/this other browser/this other operating system/this other telecommunications protocol/etc.] now now now!!!"). ;)
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