Future of e-books?

[Watcher55]

File this under: Ideas I'll never pursue, but it might be fun to explore for a few minutes.

I read Nathan's blog today and was surprised to see that apparently "colored ink" is a deal. I'm not big on e-books but it looks cool.

Do you see the possibility of animation and video doing the work of illustration or actually being incorporated into stories? I think the media would have to be used in way that it doesn't work or is meaningless without reading the novel.

Whaddya think?

[longknife]

I don't think there are ANY limits on what can happen to e-books or any other online media. As long as the hard and software continues to grow and expand, so will this media.

[Margo]

I gotta say that if e-books become multimedia, I hope there will be a feature allowing the reader to turn off that portion of the content. I really don't want the extras. I want to use my imagination for that.

From my mouth to the e-gods' ears.

[Fenris]

It's certainly possible. Who knows, one day they may so interactive and animated they'll be like narrated video games. Think of all the companies that would either have to shut down or hire loads of new people to accommodate the change. Books, movies, and games might no longer be published separately but at the same time, integrated into a single e-file.

I agree with Margo, though. I'd want to use my imagination the first time around, so the different formats would need to be separable.

[Sommer Leigh]

Can my vote be, it depends?

There are some books I think would make AMAZING multimedia book experiences. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick comes to mind. As does Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. Leviathan and Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld too. Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Alice in Wonderland and any fairy tale.

That being said, most of the novels I read would not necessarily be made better by a multimedia experience. And I'm with Margo on this one, I hope they can be turned off.

I do wish more books had artwork in them. Leviathan and Behemoth taught me that a novel can be just as awesome and grown up with illustrations.

One thing I think that could be cool for ebooks is a way to access online content by the author from the ebook. Like the book's website or the author's blog. An interview with the cover artist or "extra" content to tie into the book. For example, author Sarah Rees Brennan gives "gifts" to her readers at different points of year by publishing short stories and exerpts from her Demon's Lexicon series on her blog that tie into the story or happen to the main characters out of the scope of the story. I think it would be great if the e-book could receive updates to include links to things like this when an author puts them out there. Like downloadable content for video games but you don't have to pay extra for them.

[polymath]

Color illustrations, illustrations for that matter, convenient, self-gratifying interactive content, when it's meaningless it's candyfloss. What is the meaning of any given illustration? Is it a convenient or lazy way to evoke deeper engagement? What's wrong with words? If nothing else, graphics break me away from individual, intimate, personal engagement with a narrative.

Okay, illustrations are fine for enhancing textbook information, but for narrative arts they're a nuisance to me.

How close does society have to come to Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451 and its censorship of culture, majority rules tyrrany, and mass culture mob consumerism lunancy to realize runaway technology breeds monocultural zombie consumers?

[Margo]

monocultural zombie consumers?

LOL. This reminds me of a Lily Allen song. :)


Life’s about film stars and less about mothers
It’s all about fast cars and cussing each other
But it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plastic
And that’s what makes my life so f-ing fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption
It’s not my fault; it’s how I’m programmed to function

"The Fear"

[Watcher55]

Don’ get me wrong folks but, YIKES, I didn’t mean to suggest a total replacement of the Art. Anyone who suggests that should be tarr’d, fether’d and run outta town on a rail. That being said, I can see how the topic automatically went that way (I’da dun the same).

I think all your projections of the possibilities, and dangers are, if not spot on, totally valid but they only scratch the surface. It does seem society is marching toward homogenization, but progress clips along in spite of and because of individual preference. The trick here, I think is that artists really need to take the briefest of steps back, then seize some of the possibilities and build legitimate art forms and protect them from over commercialization for as long as possible; ideally until definitive paradigms (rules if you will) have been established.

I honestly wasn’t thinking about “commercial” viability. I guess I was wondering more about artistic validity; and if I could elicit speculation on other forms the media can manifest. Y’all have suggested a lot of great ones. I especially liked Sommer’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND idea.

[dios4vida]

First of all, I'm with Margo and the others. I don't want all the extra flashy stuff. I love my eReader, but just give me the words and let my imagination take it from there.

What I'm wondering about multimedia ebooks is how much involvement the author will have in that. For those of us who only write but have no talent for drawing or graphic design, who would create the images and layouts? Will they allow the author to have control over the final product since it'd be incorporated into the novel itself, or will it be like cover art where sometimes the author has no say whatsoever? I have to say that if an epublisher wanted to make my novels into a multimedia experience I'd be very, very hesitant - if they said I couldn't have complete control over what goes in or out, then I'd outright refuse. I don't want other people messing with my creation without my consent. Call me a miser, but I'm just that way.

[Fenris]

What I'm wondering about multimedia ebooks is how much involvement the author will have in that. For those of us who only write but have no talent for drawing or graphic design, who would create the images and layouts? Will they allow the author to have control over the final product since it'd be incorporated into the novel itself, or will it be like cover art where sometimes the author has no say whatsoever? I have to say that if an epublisher wanted to make my novels into a multimedia experience I'd be very, very hesitant - if they said I couldn't have complete control over what goes in or out, then I'd outright refuse. I don't want other people messing with my creation without my consent. Call me a miser, but I'm just that way.

That's a very good point. One of the joys of being published (or so I've heard :) ) is to see your work on the shelves (or in this case, on the e-readers). Take that away, and there seems to be very little point anymore. After enough meddling, it can't really be considered ours anymore. If we can't tell the story we want to tell, why should we tell one at all? Why cater to their wants when it should be the other way around?

I would make a very bad writer-for-hire, if you can't tell. :)

[Sommer Leigh]

I think, like Watcher said, the multimedia aspect won't become the norm for everything. I think there are certain authors who will jump on the chance to flex their creative muscles in new and innovative ways because of the multimedia aspect ebooks offers. I think it is a good thing, not a bad thing. And I don't think we are talking about a massive overhaul. I think specific reading experiences will be built around the multimedia aspect, not be jammed like a square peg into a round hole.

For example, there was this awesome book created called The Patchwork Girl that is a story play on Frankenstein but it is also a multimedia book...I mean when I read it for a college women's lit class we had to buy it on CD because it didn't come in print form and that was way before ebooks. The style of the story (a person built out of pieces and given life) is designed not as a linear narrative but in pieces and you can read it in any order you choose. The style, the writing, and the narrative were all built around this immersive, extreme multimedia experience. It was never meant to be read like a typical book. I think we'll see these sort of experiments in storytelling, not a push to make your basic novel suddenly have multidimensional meaning through multimedia.

Another example actually comes from a friend of mine who is a grad student in costume design. She said she hopes the research and design books she uses will embrace ebooks and become more multimedia driven where she can click on historical clothing pictures and enlarge as much as she needs to see stitchwork, and embed video tutorials of instead of written step by steps. Not to mention some of her clothing books from different parts of history are tomes big enough to stop a bullet, she hopes these sorts of authors and publishers will embrace ebooks so that she can tote her entire collection of historical reference books on her ereader instead of massive books she now has to drag everywhere. It would also be nice if she could flip through pictures in one of these books and through the picture access other research material within the book in an interactive indexing.

The applications are endless, but not necessarily for your typical novel.

[dios4vida]

Another example actually comes from a friend of mine who is a grad student in costume design. She said she hopes the research and design books she uses will embrace ebooks and become more multimedia driven where she can click on historical clothing pictures and enlarge as much as she needs to see stitchwork, and embed video tutorials of instead of written step by steps. Not to mention some of her clothing books from different parts of history are tomes big enough to stop a bullet, she hopes these sorts of authors and publishers will embrace ebooks so that she can tote her entire collection of historical reference books on her ereader instead of massive books she now has to drag everywhere. It would also be nice if she could flip through pictures in one of these books and through the picture access other research material within the book in an interactive indexing.

The applications are endless, but not necessarily for your typical novel.

You know, I never did consider the multimedia uses for texts or references like that. What an idea, and how convenient would that be?!

[Watcher55]

How about a fusion of Mike Dickson’s concept, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2878 and the THE PATCHWORK GIRL (smacks of MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A BATHTUB – Stanislaw Lem)? Same story, different P’sOV, but the reader can choose which Character or Characters to follow.

There could be a table of contents type screen with profiles of the characters. The reader can select which character(s) tells the story, then go back and do it again with a different set of characters.

[Sommer Leigh]

How about a fusion of Mike Dickson’s concept, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2878 and the THE PATCHWORK GIRL (smacks of MANUSCRIPT FOUND IN A BATHTUB – Stanislaw Lem)? Same story, different P’sOV, but the reader can choose which Character or Characters to follow.

There could be a table of contents type screen with profiles of the characters. The reader can select which character(s) tells the story, then go back and do it again with a different set of characters.

I think that sounds kind of awesome. I love my books, but I love interesting storytelling experiences too. It's like watching the movie Momento. It is so screwy and interesting but you can't watch every movie that way.