Innovations

Upcoming Innovations


A friend recently pointed out to me the upcoming changes in the publishing industry and she used http://safaribooksonline.com as one example. I do recommend you check it out. It gives a tantalizing view of the future.

Isaac Asimov would be thrilled. Imagine a hand-held device allowing authors to research, compare, take notes, write and play in a digital format. You might point out that many hand helds already do this, but not quite like what Safari claims is possible.

Those of you who are writing historical novels, imagine a digital format of your book on such a device: along with your novel, your device could hold links to videos that might encourage the reader to enjoy an interactive reading experience. Your hand-held might hold audio files to enable an audio version of your book, or it might help your readers with correct pronounciation of your characters’ names, your device might have a screen saver of an animated version of your characters or a graphic version of your novel as well as the original. Interactivity is on its way folks.

It’s both exciting and terrifying in all of its open-ended capacity. But to quote a favorite movie: “Without change, something sleeps inside of us and seldom wakes. The sleeper must awaken.”

Many thanks to DaVonna Smitley for alerting me to this topic. I hope all of you slept well. ;D