From Geekdom to Wall Street, all eyes will focus on Cupertino, CA on Wednesday when Steve Jobs steps on stage to, presumably, unveil the long rumored Mac tablet (aka “The iUnicorn” because many have said it doesn’t exist). Whether or not you believe the digital publishing shake-up is imminent doesn’t matter. At all. It’s already underway and if you’re an author, either professional or aspiring, you need to pay attention.
The way we engage story has evolved over time and we’re on the cusp of the next cycle. And that cycle can be described with one word: convergence. CSI creator Anthony Zuiker tried it with his digi-novel, the over the top Level 26. Others have tried producing vooks, digital books with bonus video elements (most have which are…meh). Sooner rather than later we will have to figure out how to inventively tell stories by layering all of the techno-capabilities that devices like Apple’s tablet supposedly provide. Soon, writing the manuscript of a novel won’t even be the bare minimum. The new baseline will include interactivity, which you’ll have to plan for before you type the first word.
What will that look like? Who knows. But I do know we’ve got to start experimenting now. True, the publishing industry can learn from the mistakes the music industry made. In fact, I’ve heard that for awhile as well as something to the effect of “The good news is we still have time to figure it out.” My response is “maybe.” My opinion is that the speed of the shift will catch most authors and publishers off-guard. It’s the nature of things.
So, my advice…use your imagination to dream new ways to tell your story. The limits are being removed so take advantage of the time we live in.