Merging Media

Posted by trav in Authors, Book Talk, Media, Publishers, Upcoming Titles      No comments

Aug
28

The creator of CSI and Dutton are teaming up to produce a new three-book series of “digital novels”. Let me preface this move with a quote from the CSI guy, Anthony Zuiker…

“I personally don’t have the attention economy to read a 250-page crime novel from start to finish.”

So that’s where he is coming from, on this. Zuiker goes on to say that these suspense-thillers will “reward” readers with rich media and video to enhance the reading experience. Basically, Zuiker will write an outline, then a ghost-writer will crank out 100 chapters and then Zuiker will back in and write 20 “cyber-bridges” (how lame-o is that phrase? Is this 1980? -ed.) for people to watch, before continuing on to the next chapter.

Of course, the example they give is a reading up to a crime, then log-on to watch a sex snuff film, and then go back to the book. I do have to concede this to the Hollywood folks… you’ll probably sell more books if you are including websites to watch sex videos.

To be fair, I am all for this type of convergence. It’s interesting how all these media formats merge and play off each other. I just think that this one pitch misses the mark on just about all of it. They really should have planned to do more and dig deeper.

(from Variety)

2008 Bulwer-Lytton winner

Posted by trav in News      1 comment

Aug
17

This is the 26th year of the Bulwer-Lytton contest, aimed at finding the best of the worst opening lines to imaginary novels. The winner is pretty good, but I enjoyed the “Spy Fiction” Winner and Runner-Up better. So I copied them below as well. I mean the Spy Novel winner is baaaaaad and the Runner-Up is just to punny to pass up.

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Homewood Library Booksale

Posted by trav in Birmingham, Bookstores, Events      2 comments

Aug
15

The sale runs this weekend August 15-18.

For first pick through this year’s books, show up at the library at 6:30pm, on Friday, Aug. 15th and pay $2. That gets you in to bag the books and includes wine and snacks.

There is no cover charge for the rest of the sale (though you do miss out on the choicest picks)…

Saturday, August 16 the books will be on sale from 9 a.m.– 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, August 17 the books will be on sale from 2 p.m.– 5:30 p.m.
Monday, August 18 the books will be on sale from 9 a.m.– 8:30 p.m.

Happy hunting!

Font Conference

Posted by trav in On the Web, Type      No comments

Aug
13

Co-worker passed along this video, hosted over on CollegeHumor.com, that’s pretty darn funny except for the senseless inclusion of Comic Sans. But the production meetings are more fun now that people have started talking in wingdings!

A new edition… er, addition

Posted by trav in Site News      1 comment

Aug
7

She’s finally here! And wonderful… there’s nothing like reading a book with a newborn asleep on your chest… looking forward to many such afternoons…

What if e-books were first?

Posted by trav in Book Talk, On the Web      No comments

Aug
6

Mac Slocum over on the O-Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing  blog offers up a neat twist to the debate of e-books vs. paper books… what if we had all been using e-books for the past few hundred years and paper books were just coming on the market? Would we all laugh at the paperback, or as the new kid on the block, would it capture our attention and spark a movement?

He lists out the benfits of the new unplugged book model: no need to buy batteries, lasts a loooooong time, ultra portable, ultra cheap, etc. All these things almost put the old e-book model to shame, huh?

Slocum calls it the flip test and it sure seems a good way to look at both sides of an equation.

Birmingham By the Book

Posted by trav in Birmingham, Media, News, Site News      3 comments

Aug
6

Thanks to Carla Jean Whitley for the mention in the August issue of Birmingham Magazine. Very cool! So everyone go out and buy a copy so you can tell all your friends “hey, I read that book blog”… but seriously she put together a great list of what the article calls “The Essentials… must-visit websites that will guide you through the city”.

The piece is populated by local online heavy-hitters, including al.com, bhamterminal.com, wadeonbirmingham.com, bhamwiki.com, etc. (you know all the guys that must have invented the interwebs).

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks. It’s fun keeping this site going and even more so when you know folks are reading. Plus, she got every last punctuation mark correct in {head}:sub/head. Why is that important to me? I dunno. It just is… and you have to appreciate someone that pays attention to detail like that.

Birmingham Museum of Art Library

Posted by trav in Birmingham, News, On the Web      No comments

Aug
4

 The Birmingham Museum of Art has opened an online doorway into their art library. If you’ve never been, there are tons of cool books there that aren’t available anywhere else in town. So many of the 35,000 items, you can’t check out.  
As of right now, the site is a bit bare bones and takes a few trial searches to figure your way through the catalog. But it’s a great resource for research or inspiration. Thanks to the powers-that-be that helped make this available! 
{via Emmet O’Neal}  

Magazine Mentions B’ham Bookstores

Posted by trav in Birmingham, Book Talk, News      No comments

Aug
4

Portico Managing Editor, Amanda Manning has penned a piece on a handful of our local bookstores. Her article is slated to run in the September issue. Manning has only called Birmingham home for a few years, so she graciously answered a few quick questions for me about her article and other bookish goodness.

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WOWIO.com relaunches

Posted by trav in On the Web      No comments

Aug
1

One of my favorite new online services is back online with a new twist. Wowio.com is an online service that lets you read books for free or for pay. All you do is sign-up for a free username and then you can access all of the books uploaded by wowio‘s publishing partners, in an ad supported window. Or if you like, you can buy a pdf copy of the book and download to your desktop/pda/laptop/e-book reader/etc.

I’m not sure how the new partnership models will work out for the publishers, but if Wowio can have another year of growth, like they did last year, then they could become a force to be reckoned with (and no doubt the model for many copycat services).