Peter CollingridgePETER COLLINGRIDGE

"Well we're really mad crazy busy working on a LOT of apps, and working on getting a lot of apps over the line. We were lucky enough to win some awards and recognition at the end of 2009, which included:

- eConsultancy's "Innovation in User Experience Award"

- Wolff Olins & Wallpaper Magazine: one of ten things they think will change the world in 2010

- Apple listed us in their top 30 apps of 2009 in the UK

- And the Observer said we were among the top 30 cultural apps.

We're talking to a lot of publishers on both sides of the Atlantic (and some a little further afield), all of whom seem to feel that Bunny Munro captured their imagination in a way that 'vanilla' ebooks really haven't.

But at the same time we know that we need to not spread ourselves too thinly, and to focus on apps (which seems like the wrong name in a way) that are really going to resonate with an audience. We have always had a strong gut feel that enhancements (the right ones) are really important, and that we had to get the enhancements right as well as the book.

We took a punt with releasing what we have come to describe as an "unenhanced enhanced edition" for the Obama books, for which we couldn't really get any publicity - even by trying the old "blackberry president goes iphone" line. And when you're lost in the app store, you're really lost. Even whilst the Obama Dreams From My Father book remains a top 10 bestseller in the UK bookstores, the app has done nothing. People just don't know it's there and it's a shame as it is the most incredible story.

We're working on the Homicide and Corner apps at the moment, which are going to be released in the early Spring. There are some real treats in there for WIRE fans, and we're also looking to produce a very special WIRE-specifc app if we can swing that. These will probably be much more video based than Bunny, without much audio, but also the texts of the books. Which as I'm sure you know are about as good as writing gets.

Much as I would love to, we can't announce anything else yet by name but we are working on some major - major - pieces of literary fiction; a forthcoming (and controversial) novella from a household name; novels new and old from prizewinners; some more music titles; books around food; children's titles and teen fiction as well as some pretty exciting wider developments.

Obviously we've got a close eye on what Apple is doing, but we're also looking with great interest at Android and the Nexus One in particular... all this whilst polishing the underlying app to address some of the great user feedback we've had on Bunny.

NOTE: Peter Collingridge will deliver a keynote, "Enhancing the Ebook" at O'Reilly Media's Tools of Change Conference on Tuesday, February 23 at 8:30am.

Therein, in a nutshell, MoJo advises big publishers to quit being babies and just take their ball and go home. Yes, I've mixed metaphors, as is my wont to do. But, her point is well taken. If you don't like the rules, dear big publisher, set up your own game. It's not that hard.

What's that you say? You don't wish to be bothered with the running of games?

That's cool. No, really. It really, really is. If some publishers don't necessarily want to get to know their customers on that personal of a level, that does not necessarily make them evil.

Consider if you will: big (and other sized) publishers have long gone the retailer route because, in its ideal form it provides a lovely and convenient way for publishers to stay in touch with their customer base without requiring an intense amount of their time - thereby allowing them to (supposedly) use every waking moment finding, polishing up, producing and marketing fantastic authors and books.

Plus, a retail intermediary provides the added benefit of not requiring publishers to handle change or smile too much. OH, and readers get the benefit of all those fantasticaly knowledgeable retailers telling them all about the perfect book for them, yadda yadda.

So, let's consider: Big publisher has decided he doesn't really want to be in the retail game, but he'd love to pay a nice retailer to act on his behalf. "Here you go, sonny. Here's a few bucks, show the reader a nice time, make sure she finds something she likes, and let me know how the evening goes."

It's kind of like having your friend take your girl out when you are too busy. Something only advisable when you really trust your friend.

You don't have to look far to see this working fairly well -- many brick and mortar stores, and many online e-tailers, are showing readers a fantastic time. Not coincidentally, a lot of these retailers (both on and offline) are indies, and are earning their market share by providing excellent customer service (to both their reader AND their publisher customers).

However, in particular cases -- really big cases -- disintermediation has ceased to provide certain value to the disintermediated, and I'm talking both ends of the chain. Publishers aren't getting any knowledge about customers, and readers aren't getting very good service finding books they want -- what they are getting are artificially-induced and unsustainable low, low prices on a relative handful of titles. And that, like shiny objects to a child, can be very attractive (or distracting, anyway) to readers.

So, for publishers who don't want to play retailer, that's cool. You are forgiven for not taking your reader to the dance, but - be careful who you get to play the part on your behalf. They may not have either your, or your readers' best intentions at heart.

Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner EntertainmentJeff Gomez is CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment and a leading creator of highly successful fictional worlds (he doesn't like to brag, but he had something to do with a little movie called Avatar). He is an expert at cross-platform intellectual property development and transmedia storytelling, as well as at extending niche properties such as toys, animation, or video game titles into the global mass market.

How does Jeff define transmedia storytelling? Jeff points out that, by definition, this narrative form should invite its audience to participate in the narrative in some way, stating: "This can range from providing a forum for readers or viewers to express their opinions, all the way to giving them a way to contribute creatively to the canon of the author’s fictional universe. Without this offer of dialog, it’s not transmedia."

Narratives that work best in this format, Jeff says, are ones that "lend themselves to vast expansion" and Jeff takes inspiration from Tolkien. "He supplemented his novels with maps, languages, poetry, illustrations – all of it added up to a universe that felt as real as it was emotionally compelling for me. I just think you have to take the world that you’ve established in your fiction very seriously … although we do a lot of stuff that appeals to kids, this isn’t kid stuff. It’s not easy to do … once you’ve nailed your mythology down, transmedia storytelling is a cinch."

Like Kate Pullinger and Lisa Holton, Jeff believes book publishers (or ‘media packagers’) are just beginning to feel their way through transmedia innovation, but he hopes they will soon jump in full force:

"From my perspective anyone who’s trying anything at all gets a gold star. I think it’s more a matter of who is dipping their toe in the pool and who is committing to make the big dive ... none of the big [publishing] houses have climbed to the higher boards … [they] will have to fundamentally shift their business models to leverage transmedia in ways that record companies failed to do. There is precious little time left for the majors to engage this, but the ones who do this successfully will once again become major players.

"Artists and writers are only beginning to experiment with transmedia. It’s the equivalent of rubbing two sticks together. On the other hand, I certainly appreciate what certain authors and packagers have been doing. Starlight Runner had long conversations with Lisa Holton when The 39 Clues was barely a glimmer in her eyes, and The Amanda Project is actually the real payoff to that thinking in my opinion. Publishers who’ve placed their bets on Jordan Weisman (Cathy’s Book, the upcoming Lost Souls) are seeing fascinating and fairly profitable projects being realised."

Given the slow rate at which publishers appear to be adopting transmedia/multiple-channel storytelling, does Jeff think authors would be better-served to bypass the publishers and just publish to the web?

"I think if they were ever going to, now is the time. I admit I’ve been baffled by how and why publishers have dragged their feet on concerted multi-platform strategies around the intellectual properties that they take in by the thousand each year. It isn’t ignorance, it’s active resistance!

So if I was an author who had an innovative way to communicate my long-form text-based narrative, yes, I might lose my patience with publishers and do a little direct marketing and distribution via the internet … in short, I would make it as much like sitting around a campfire with a whole bunch of friends telling them a story and watching their response and tweaking my delivery to that response as possible … that being said … there is nothing that generates more respect and grants more rights and revenues back to the creator than traditionally published books."

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Jeff Gomez will be a keynote speaker at this year's O'Reilly Tools of Change conference, and I'm very much looking foward to hearing what he has to say! For more information on TOC, click here.

Lisa Holton of FourthStory MediaLisa Holton, Founder and CEO of Fourth Story Media is currently enjoying the success of The Amanda Project, the first collaborative, interactive fiction series for girls aged 13 and up. The Amanda Project unfolds across an interactive website, and readers not only read – but write parts of what will become the published books. For the uninitiated, The Amanda Project is not really a book, it’s not a video game, and it’s not a website. Lisa and the other creators call it "a collaborative, interactive mystery – where readers can participate in the story."

It was Lisa’s 25 years working in children’s book publishing, and the ideas expressed in BORN Digital that helped generate the idea for The Amanda Project.

"Publishing is an art as well as a business – attracting, nurturing, editing, and supporting talented authors and illustrators, designing and producing books, connecting them with readers. I believe many, many kids love to read and many more love to live online – so I started thinking about how to combine those two activities, and Amanda just kind of appeared."

What would Lisa consider as one of the drawbacks of being a pioneer in transmedia? The Amanda Project’s unusual nature as a non-book can make it harder for people to understand what it is: "There has certainly been a fair amount of attention, but since it’s completely new and unlike anything else that exists, it’s understandably hard for some people to get what the heck we’re talking about -- teens, though, usually get it immediately."

And it is a huge collaborative effort. Says Lisa, "We approached Melissa Kantor and Peter Silsbee, the first two authors [about telling] an ongoing story over a series of novels and the web ... we all got together with Happy Cog, our web design firm, and played around with both story and format at the same time ... then Melissa and Peter went off and created characters and a story while Happy Cog invented a web site that allows kids to participate in the story.

The creative process was exciting because each person got to do what they do best – write, design,create information architecture – but they got to talk about it with other talented people, learn what the others were doing, and be inspired by each other’s work. I think everyone involved got a big kick out of it, and fed off of each other’s ideas."

Lisa’s role became something akin to a director: "I did what you do when you direct or produce any creative endeavor – go find talented people, help them do their best work, clearly define what it is you’re trying to do and then try to move toward completion … the real challenge is in the editorial work."

But the most challenging aspect of The Amanda Project?

"Anytime you try to make up something as you go along, it is going to be challenging. Balancing the plot arc and mystery over the site and the books will continue to be a big challenge, and we will need to make sure we are as responsive to the kids' contributions as we are now while we grow. Perhaps the hardest thing continues to be trying to explain to non-Amandaites what it’s all about."

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Click here to read Pt. I of Transmedia Storytelling: Pioneers in the New Age of Narrative - KATE PULLINGER.

Check back Wednesday for Pt. III of this post: Transmedia Storytelling: Pioneers in the New Age of Narrative - JEFF GOMEZ of Starlight Runner Entertainment