Thread: New Media - Chicken or Egg?

I have a rather interesting experience relating to publishing and New Media. Back when the Oddville Press thing was first touted, I suggested that perhaps it might be better to start an interactive media project rather than simply trying to replicate a print publication on PDFs. Obviously they went the latter way, but I tried to then grow the original idea. A few folks were involved from here, but it basically keeled over because trying to organise anything by committee never works.

The result was that I teamed up with a few people locally, and the idea was to try to create a framework that encompassed all forms of word-based products (I know it sounds odd, but we wanted to steer clear of the associations with terms such as writing, reading, recorded voice, animation, film, etc.). The idea was that word-based work in any format could be contained within a single package, which could then be distributed as a complete whole, or as a range of other single mediums.

The final package was obviously nothing short of a collection of files of varying types, but the "front end" then allowed the user to do various things with the files. It also ensured that the files were "containerised" so that the user actually had a physical product. It would have been simple to simply use a website, but we wanted to have something physical that they received.

Whilst this was being built I spent a fair bit of time trying to find a commercial sponsor. This was partly to generate funds, but predominantly to get access to the distribution chain. Rather than piss about, I approached a number of the leading players in the data distribution sector, and strangely none of them told me to piss off.

Things were progressing when out of the blue we were contacted by a representative of a media publishing company (I have to be vague due to an NDA) who had in turn heard about the idea from one of the distributors (with whom I believe that have common bonds). The upshot was that they liked the idea and entered into negotiations to acquire it.

Because of other commitments, I was happy to take some money and move on. My main partner, who was working on the interface, wanted to see it through. I took my money and he was employed by the publisher.

Last week it was announced that the project has been "discontinued". My partner has been paid off, and has been informed that it is "highly unlikely" that the project will be revisited. Okay, it's a good thing because we both earned out of it. However, the downside is that we cannot now use many of the ideas. Whilst the publisher will not use the idea, it doesn't want anyone else using it either.

The rub is this; I have been informed that the main reason that the company dropped the project was because when it analysed its sales of individual elements (i.e. books - including paper books, on-line books and e-reader books; audio recordings - CDs, DVDs, MP3s; video recordings - DVD, downloads, etc., it just didn't make sense to present a wide range of multi-media elements in one package. Not when they could be sold separately.

Now, I'm not a "let's do it because we can" type of person. I have to pay bills, and go on holiday and drink beer and stuff like that. I pursued the aforementioned project predominantly to learn about new media, because as someone who works in old fashioned books and magazines, I realised that I'd better be ready to make the leap. Commercially, exploiting all the benefits of new media doesn't make sense. The whole "multi-media" thing is good, but any publisher of data would be giving the user too much to make it worthwhile.

This leaves what I call the hobbyist publisher. Sadly, many of these types are shit at what they do. The result it poor quality new media offerings which simply drag down the good ones with them. It muddies the water, and generally puts people off. Yes, they will still search out the classics on-line, because it's easy and cheap, but what does this mean for new media as a whole?

I figure that what is needed is a new approach to the whole writing thing. Rather than trying to put writing into a new format, we need a new multi-format art that exploits the media. This is the only way that publishers/producers will take new media seriously before the other markets dry up. Until then, they will restrict the use of multi-media.

Any thoughts?

Ya freakin' commie.

So what do you think this would look like? Like some of the weblit in the NM Workshop? A CD full o' goodies? Moving tattoos?

The web itself facilitates the multi-format art concept. The only other thing I can think of that approaches what I think is coming conceptually is the videogame. Interactive cds didn't go over big initially, but I think that concept was just ahead of its time. The end consumer is wanting something to see, feel, hear...replacing the idea of the album cover, big, with groovy images and a lyrics sheet that you could read and examine and play with while the record spun.
I keep playing around with multimedia stuff but I don't think I have a good handle on what a reasonable commercial product could be yet. Some combination of ebook/podcast/graphic novel seems really likely though.

It would be a hell of a job to make an interactive novel (or blovel or whatever we'd call it) with the depth or a video game.

And it you did...how would you tell the difference.

I did a pretty amazing ebook this winter, but it's only usable on Windows. And basically, it's just a blog novel tarted up into a website that can do all sorts of cool crap you can't do on the web because of vairations in browser support.

But it's sure fucking cool. Won "Best Ebook in the World" in big contest/show. (A ripoff.)

But it's commercially useless. And is basically a novel, come down to it. Hard to compete against Grand Theft Auto.

Yeah...at some point there the egg grows feathers.
The Children of the Atom project is my step in that direction...but as noted above, it's damned hard to work by committee. The more complex things may be best done as a solo, but they work best as team projects. That's some catch, that catch-22.
I guess something like a read-only video game is the best way to go with description.
Like you describe your ebook, or how I worked my interactive novel back in the dark ages, there are a lot of options on how to do things, but only so many commercial inroads. And you have to make a buck to keep doing the more ambitious stuff.

God, I spend hundreds of hours formatting that thing. Doing research, trying out gadgets and widgets and fidgets. And end with something incredibly cool that nobody will ever see.

This is why artistes die broke.

Could it be that the book/magazine is the best suited format for writing? If so, then what is the art form best suited to new media? I think the reality is that until peopler start creating genuine interactive experiences with words, then we're just reinventing the wheel.

Do you see any promising avenues?

Other than just wordy vid games? (Not that that's the worst idea in the world)

LOL...like the old Hitchiker's game, where it's all text? I dunno. The only thing I can work out is to do something like a graphic novel/cd combo-that kind of thing can be done on the web also, where the consumer can listen to the music/dramatic re-enactment while he views the pics or reads the story or watches the video or whatever. I find it hard to back off and evaluate where I'm tailoring to my interests/talents and what's a commercial possibility though. And it really isn't an alternative delivery system, just a different package.
The thing I keep coming back to is to put something in the consumer's hands where they have to interact with the media, not necessarily based on a damn computer. I just remember how great it was to get the album and grok the images and the lyrics while listening, and I want to expand on that experience...somehow, some way...

Exactly. An LP could be a multi-media artwork in a big way. Dark Side of the Moon, Tommy---art. music, verse all in one and suitable for framing.

Just being able to do something like that would be pretty cool. But i think it would be contra-pruductive for it not to be downloadable.




I look at something like BioShock and I'm seeing (I'm not a player and haven't played any of these, understand) a pretty amazign almalgam of story, art and motion.


I've said in the past that as novels go to phone apps and such, the lines between fiction and games will blur.


But is that we want to do here? Write multi media games? Which are pretty much committee work except for a handful of multi-talented writers.

*makes sign of cross*
Gah! I've managed to forget FORTRAN, Cobol, and Assembler. And most of my French. English and a smattering of Spanish is enough. I don't wanna learn any game languages. No C++, please. I don't play most games anyway. Mostly sports stuff. The storyline stuff doesn't thrill me, though I've had a little to do with some older games and I know people that write those scenarios for a living.
A GN that comes packaged with a cd could be a downloadable item. I like that idea. That fits that whole LP/package concept. Someone else can buy the rights off of me and make the game.

How about flash? flash games where you get to pick the dialogue as the story progresses? A lot of anime games in japan do this, though I myself personally would rather play a real video game. I was thinking of creating XD: Graphic novel initially as an interactive flash novel (kinda like your choose your own adventure books) , where if you choose the wrong answer the hero would die in a brutal fashion. But I don't have the time, money, and people for a project that big.

I am a big fan of audio books. [I love hearing the performer. A good reader brings so much more to the table than I.] I wonder if the deal is going to be more new distribution, than new product? I certainly hope cd's fall on the junk heap quick. Library copies are trashed in a few checkouts and they'll only begin at track marks. How about flash memory vending machines? Put your device in and browse the library--literature, music, video, games, pictures--put in your credit card and download what you want. Don't need to pay for dsl. Especially after the monoliths strangle the net.

I like the idea of downloadable media vending machines. I'd pay for that, especially if there were teasers to give me an idea of what I was getting, and a description/artist bio. Categories would be great also, similar to the way Amazon recommends items. You'd probably have to stick to proven file formats, such as mp3, PDF, JPEG sized large enough for desktop wallpapers, etc. Offering multi-item packages by theme would also help sales, but you'd need to offer the items individually as well (because sometimes you want the single, not the whole album).

The hurdle would be the cost of building the vending machines. The internal computer would likely be cheap enough, but designing a kiosk that would stand out and draw attention while describing its purpose could get pricey. Getting the funds to invest in such a venture without a proven track record would be tough, especially since your biggest competitor is the Internet, which almost everyone has access to.

But I'd buy media from it. And you'd get some great artists joining up if they were able to take a share of the sales.