Matthew from Vook here. I really appreciate all the thoughtful responses and ideas both in this blog post and in the comments. You can see that our founder Brad Inman even stopped by to share a word. I’d love it if all of you would follow us on Twitter for more information about what we’re doing and the digital book market generally and if you’d sign up for our Beta (http://vook.com/) — we really need feedback and input from people like you.

Furthermore, please contact me at Matthew [at] Vook [dot] Com to discuss any of this further. I would love to be in touch with you personally.

Again, the beta is here:
http://vook.com/

And the twitter is here:

http://twitter.com/vook

Thanks again!

Matthew

My novel is published on a blog . . .

Also, you still haven’t responded to my email about Twitter. Novelists need to take advantage of this technology. It’s working for me. I’m up to 200 hits a day on my novel!

Chris

2nd reaction: wait, I’m a little confused. That’s a blog subscription, isn’t it?

@Sheila: I like your last line, and I think you’re right with your first as well. Whatever happens, I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on the format.

If you want to put your blog novel on Kindle go here:

https://kindlepublishing.amazon.com/gp/vendor/sign-in

Best,
Chris

I may be a bit more optimistic because in 2002 I trademarked the term “Book trailer” and started a book trailer production company that is now thriving. At that time I was awarded the trademark because you couldn’t even find it on Google. And we couldn’t find anyone in the industry who could tell us what one was. Lucky me.
But, during my meetings in NYC with publishers, while I tried to tell them book video was going to be big in the future, I had one publishing executive tell me that it was the “Stupidest idea” he’d ever heard and went so far as to imply that I was also stupid.

That publisher is now one of my biggest clients. “Stupid idea”-guy no longer works there.

The point is, you just don’t know what will catch on. As we all know, risk takers have to be good at failure just as they have to be prepared for success.

@Jan Oda: If you’re going to do that, be careful about the cohesion of the piece – I think there are specific tones and styles for each medium and it’ll do to make sure each component blends with the others.

Also: agreed =) It risks being called vaporware, that’s for sure.

So it doesn’t have to be a crime or detective story in my eyes. It needs to be realistic that the’re multi media witnessess of the story.

As for Vook itself, I can’t help it, but I always feel a small dismay if something is hyped before there is anything to be seen.

Anyway, I immediately went to the Sony store, because it was closer to the mall entrance I used than Radio Shack. Radio Shack changed its name, but I can’t remember the new name at all, so it’s still Radio Shack in my heart.

Anyhoo, I went to the Sony store and looked at camcorders, because the one we got at our wedding wasn’t compatible with our laptop. I saw that I’d have to save some serious money for the fancy, directly Youtube compatible 2009 model. Then, the helpful salesman showed me a new product.

The Vdr-Mc3 — which can record digital photographs, camcorder, dvd, straight from television or VHS, at the touch of a single button. It’s really an amazing product. He said he can even attach a microphone and cdplayers to it, and record music (for fun, it’s not like studio quality) so that films have a soundtrack.

It’s only about $230 (in Canada) but I predict this little sucker will not only make home movies, but it (and technology like it) will make multi-media web experiences more possible.

here’s a link: http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDetailDisplayView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&productId=1003365

So I know what I want for Father’s Day. How does that affect fiction? Well, here are some ideas I’ve had:

1. A realistic blog — staying entirely in character, relating the character’s life and observations with video, art, text, links, photos, etc. Maybe even a fictional Facebook account to link to. On one level, there’s the creativity of making their life realistic and interactive. On another level, the story could become increasingly fictionalized: aliens, superpowers, monsters, magic — but fun and interactive nonetheless.

2. A multimedia story, where it’s necessary to see things instead of just read text about them. My first idea is a detective story, with pictures and videos of clues and crime scenes. It would take a lot of prep work, but the payoff would be in creating scenes the readers would be searching for clues and trying to solve the mystery before the protagonist.

3. Penpals — communication back and forth between two fictional people, involving their emails, photos — like the blog idea, but with characters interacting and building some relationship. The audience would be eavesdropping, listening to playlists, watching videos, etc.

Now, a design team (instead of an individual) could create this stuff a lot faster but it’s still workable for one person. The trick is getting people to “act” in the videos as characters consistently — or being clever enough to never show faces and still make it engaging? Logistical details aside, I’ll probably think of more ideas later.

But, that’s not bad for 24 hours.

But that’s creating an extra for an existing story. A multi-media story would NEED media as a necessary part of the story, and I think that’s what you’re talking about. The story would fall apart without it. I criticized someone’s “fictional blog” for not doing that once — they mentioned in their text their photo site — and I said a realistic blog wouldn’t just mention it, there would be a link. To create the reality of the story, those embellishments should be there.

I’ll come back to this later. Gotta get my kid to school. :)

@Brad: Hello there. =) Welcome to Novelr! Throw me a line through Novelr’s contact form about that prototype and I’ll see what I can do for you …

@Chris: In one sense you’re right – hindsight is 50/50. But here’s where you’re mistaken: Second Life came out at a time when multiple game producers were putting out virtual worlds, so it isn’t correct to say that Second Life had no chance in succeeding. Etopia, for instance, came out around the same time Second Life did, though it never really took off. And remember: there’s Everquest, which was making a lot of money way before SL was released, though Everquest appealed to the hardcore gamer demographic. The first step in asking whether or not a product can work is to check to see if it’s the first of it’s kind: if it isn’t and there’s no dominant product of its type, then yes, it probably is a good idea (for multiple people to have come up with it) … so yes, there’s a shot at making it.

Also: hypertext never died, Chris. Everytime somebody links to somebody else in a body of text … that’s hypertext right there. All that’s happened is that hypertext evolved. Wikipedia is still essentially hypertextual, as is the blogosphere. You can’t run away from it … it is, after all, the way the web was built.

As an online fiction writer who integrates pictures, video, quotations, links and text into my work–I am curious about this project. I absolutely agree with Gavin. All the gadgets in the world aren’t going to make a difference if the stories have no staying power. I write the story first and add links, photos, YouTube videos last. All of which, with the exception of the single image I choose at the beginning of each of my chapters, are links. Links are present to extend the story or but they can easily be ignored by the reader. I think of it in the same way an author might use footnotes.

Too much multimedia can ruin a good story. Then again, some online novels thrive on multimedia. But these novels become a different beast. I can’t even call them “novels” after a certain point.

The hype is probably coming from the rich possibilities that are present at this time in technology. Whether the software of Vook is slick enough to compel users to create with it is another matter. Possibilities can soon become fantasies–such as in the demise of “hypertext”. Hypertext in the 90’s actually gave way to blogging in the late 90’s and up to the present. Why does it work so well? An utterly simple technology that can be used in a million ways–it’s cross-purpose technology. Blogging has truly changed how we communicate and express ourselves.

My predictions (just because predictions are fun). Some users will be able to create compelling projects with it, but most won’t. Without enough compelling stories, who’s going to read let alone buy?

1) as an individual, slowly adding extras like a DVD, I like what Pete said. For instance, (and I’m not a great example, but I’m drawing from my own experience here) I put up character sketches on the original NMAI site, and then a “family tree” of how characters are connected, when fans asked. I think I could do a better one, but at the time even my rough efforts were appreciated.

I think fans like to see personal touches, and embellishments, and an individual can work away at that.

Then there’s the team approach — I think it still has to be rooted and connected to the story. But a team can do a lot — there’s the map example, and remember that site you told us about with the flash media, clicking items to get more text? I think it’s possible to weave in videos, like youtube on blogs, pictures, music — it would be interesting to see all that come together. I’d love to do a teaser-trailer for the NMAI book on like Youtube and see what happens — I just have no idea how to even post a video online.

@Peter: I wonder about that too. But whether or not it’s a generational thing would only be apparent 10, 20 years down the road. I’ve a nagging feeling that the multimedia approach to storytelling isn’t as horrible as I’m assuming here, and that it can and probably will catch on, but certainly not as an ‘ebook’ format. Maybe online …

I’ve seen a few sites that do try to offer me a text story, and videos and audio and places to text and so on. And the only time I can think of it working is when the story is, by itself, complete…and all that other stuff is just extras. It’s just the equivalent of the bonus features on a DVD. In those instances, I think it’s pretty cool.

…beyond that, the word “vook” just irritates me… :)