The Future of the Book: it’s already here

Last night I attended an event at the State Library of Queensland with Bob Stein, founder and co-director of the Institute for the Future of the Book, in conversation with @Kate_Eltham, CEO of Queensland Writers Centre.

The publishing industry is changing right now, and we can be a part of it by exploding old school ideas of what an author is. Creativity has never been so easy or accessible to express and collaborate on. If we can break out of the idea of physical books and traditional publishing, there are endless opportunities for authors in this new world!

Here are some of his ideas, and my responses.

Books in the future will be an experience in cross-media. We need to look to the gaming industry to see a space where people are not constrained by the old forms. Fiction authors will become creators of worlds that readers populate like World of Warcraft.

I disagree with Bob. This is not the future. It is happening right now.

Check out J.C. Hutchin’s new book, “Personal Effects: Dark Art” which is published in print in June 2009. It is “produced” by an entertainment company and created with guru game designer Jordan Weisman.

The book combines the thriller genre with an alternate reality game (ARG). Clues in the novel — and items that come with the novel, such as ID cards and photos — will propel readers into an online experience where they become protagonists themselves. You can call the phone numbers, explore the websites and follow the clues. You can also commit yourself to The Brink, the asylum where the book is set. It has its own website as if it is a real place, with inmates (readers) already posting art.

J.C. Hutchins has a history of creating collaboration and involvement with his fans. He has podcasted his last 3 7^th Son novels and has a huge following who perform missions for him at the Ministry of Propaganda. He is cross-media, involved in the gaming industry and now bringing this to books. This is only the start!

(I am interviewing JC for my author 2.0 program – very exciting!)

Notes in the margin of the book (or comments on a blog) are just as much ‘content’ as the book or post itself.

Bob started the talk with a reference to Copernicus ‘de Revolutionibus’ – supposedly the book that nobody read. A researcher, Owen Gingerich, was investigating Copernicus’ manuscripts and found that there were extensive comments in the margins. His team at IF:Book have used this idea in a recent online experiment where 7 women discussed Doris Lessing’s “The Golden Notebook” in the margins of the page. Bob suggested that this is the future of the collaborative book-group.

This is also happening now in the blog world. Doyce Testerman, also in gaming and literature, has just started doing this with his blog. (I need to work out how to do it with mine and still maintain the right-hand column!)

A “finished” book is only based on the fixed, physical object of a book. Content should actually just be a start, a seed idea. Readers will become collaborators and expand on this content, with the author acting more as leader. The book does not contain the material.

This is happening now with the “mash-ups” that happen on YouTube with music and video and are starting in fiction. Check out “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”. It may be very new, but it is here already! If the Guardian Books blog is talking about it, then it is almost mainstream!

Some other interesting thoughts from Bob Stein

• Don’t confuse an object with its purpose. The physical book is not its content
• Books are the vehicles that humans use to move ideas around in time and space
• A book is a place where readers (and sometimes authors) congregate
• In non-fiction authors become leaders of communities of enquiry
• Old school authors’ commitment is to engage with subject matter for the benefit of future readers. New school authors engage with readers in the context of subject matter.
• Authors will need to engage with the community around the work they create
• The anxiety about saving a ‘version’ of the content as a printed book will go away. The content will have more of a timeline, a snapshot approach, developing all the time.
• The author will become more like a professor in a class of students. S/he will lead the conversation and point out what may be relevant but the ideas will be in collaboration with the audience/readers.
• Traditional booksellers may be safe in this lifetime, but “your children should go into another career”
• Traditional publishing acts as an intermediary between an author and a reader. Their role in the future will be to build and nurture the community that exists around the author and their work
• E-readers will soon be good enough that they will take off in mainstream. Bob will simultaneously publish his next book in print and ebook formats.
• Print-on-demand is fantastic and will play more of a part as bookstores and publishers go bust

Overall, it was an interesting evening. I was encouraged to find that I was already aware of these ideas, as it means indie authors are at the beginning of new publishing.

Those that can take advantage of the changes now will reap the most reward!

Extra: You can see my Twitter stream (and RTs) here.

You can buy the books mentioned at Amazon here:

Personal Effects: Dark Art

The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus

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