Pegasus Book Group Joins iPad Lineup
Macrumours.com (hey, I'm waiting for the mac mini and MacBook Pro upgrades alright!) is reporting that Pegasus Books Group has agreed to bring their entire line of indepndent books to the iPad. The news story can be found online at http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/22/apple-signs-up-independent-publisher-and-distributor-perseus-books-for-ibookstore.To comment, this is definitely the direction that I expected the iPad to go. Its digital distribution network opens up incredible opportunites for small and independent publishers. The only advantage that a large publisher would have in this environment is promotion.But it remains to be seen if Pegasus Group is the right choice for a digital noveliss like myself. While they have three hundred small publishers as clients, I still worry that I would be too small to be accepted into their clientale. I have after not yet published a single novel.There is also a question over what cut Pegasus will take with their deal with Apple. While we know that Apple will take 30% of every sale, we don't know how much of a cut that Pegasus Group will take on behalf of its small publishers. If it's small enough, it may still be worth it if Pegasus improves the visibility of the novel by getting a dedicated section of the iBook Store.While it still may be too large for ultra-small publishers like myself, it definitely deserves investigation. Most likely though I will have to wait for the CDBaby equivalent for digital publishing. Here's hoping that I don't have to wait long.
Heavy Rain and the Development of Interactive Story-Telling
You'll have to forgive me for the relative quiet over the past two weeks, but I made a last second decision to fly west for the last three days of the Vancouver Olympics and it's taken me a week to recover. However, the recovery time did give me chance to play Heavy Rain and reflect on the surprising power of interactive storytelling.Now, I've been playing video games since I was six years old but I had never considered the story to be significant part of the experience. Mario? Save the princess. Contra? Shoot aliens. Bionic Commando? Swing around the first level for hours. We played these games for the gameplay, for dodging death and never-ending bottomless pits. Who cared about the story?
And then in 1998, I played Metal Gear Solid and I was blown away by its ground-breaking cut-scenes, the hero's gruff persona, and the action-packed storyline that kept me on the edge of my seat. It was a revolutionary game and it set the storytelling standard for video games over the next ten years: cut-scenes, cut-scenes, cut-scenes.
Personally, I thought that this would be the peak of interactive storytelling but there was another little game that came out in 1998 that signaled the changes to come. It was called Half-Life. Now I didn't play Half-Life until 2002 so I never understood why it was considered such a great game. But where it did innovate was in how it told its story. Rather than use CG or in-game cut-scenes, it told its story through the eyes of Gordan Freeman. No matter what happened, you never left the point of view of the protagonist. This choice always made you feel that you were experiencing the story yourself rather than watching another character play out the story. In short, it led to a far more immersive experience. But it was also a cold experience. As a cipher, Gordon Freeman had no discernible personality. As a character, he had no character. Thus while the experience was immersive, I found that unlike Metal Gear Solid, I couldn't care less about what happened to the characters.
As the 2000s progressed, Half-Life's perspective on storytelling gained more and more influence in the industry, but I was so busy playing Metal Gear sequels that I didn't notice. Bioware allowed you to create characters and make choices that affect the storyline but the effect was somewhat cold and distant. I still preferred my cut-scenes.It was not until I played Fallout 3 in 2009 that I saw the power of the interactive storytelling that Half-Life had wrought. Unlike in previous games, choices had real consequences. A dress I found in the Statesman Hotel turned out to be a Father's dying gift to his daughter. A choice to sell a child into slavery horrified me. As I succumbed to Fallout's world, I came to the conclusion that the Nameless Wanderer wasn't just some character. He was my character. In other words, I was no longer the player, I was the writer of an epic tale and I could choose how it ended up.
As immersive as that was however, it contained some limitations. The choices were simply binary. You had good, bad, and neutral choices. It was fairly easy to tailor your character to these three categories, dramatically limiting your character-creating scope. Its artificial simplicity was one of the full elements that pulled me out of the Capital Wasteland. If your dog died, no big deal, just reload your save. Not happy with the choices you made, no problem, just reload your save. Thus while a groundbreaking game, its storytelling still left me with very little emotional connection to my character.
Based on strong reviews and hype from gaming websites like 1up.com, I decided to give an obscure game like Heavy Rain a try. For those unfamiliar with the game, Heavy Rain is an interactive novel that is played completely through Quick-Time Events. When you're asked to shave your beard, you slowly move the right analog stick to the right. When you put your son on your shoulders and run through the yard, you use the motion control to steer. When you throw or block a punch you use one of the face buttons. On the face of it, a game completely centred around Quick-Time Events is a dumb idea. However this design choice allows the game to focus completely on immersing you into the game and its characters rather than iterating on various gameplay mechanics. The result is the most immersive and emotional experience that I've ever encountered in a video game. Not only do I feel a part of the action when I chase down a criminal like I've never felt before, the emotional investment in the characters is unparalleled. 
When I lose my son, I feel like I've lost my son. When I do a series of increasingly horrific tasks to get my son back, I am mortified and repulsed by my actions but determined to do whatever it takes to find my son. In one scene, a mentally disturbed man pulls a gun on my violent partner. I pull my gun on the perpetrator and am faced with a terrible choice. Shoot an innocent man or let him kill my partner. The option to shoot is clear and easy to ready. The other choices such as "order" or "reason" are shake around the "Shoot" option. I try to order the mentally-challenged man to drop the gun. My partner screams at me to shoot, my options become more agitated. I am running out of time to make a choice. My surprise is not that my character is panicking. The surprise is that I am panicking too. In the end, I panicked and pulled the trigger, killing an innocent human being. My character's revulsion and horror over what he has just done is matched by my own.This is a revolutionary step that Heavy Rain has accomplished with seemingly ease. Not only do I play the characters in the game, I become the characters in the game. I feel what they feel, I think what they think. I have experienced the first true implementation of interactive storytelling and it is stunning.
But what does it mean? Will this be the future of storytelling? I don't think so. Interactive storytelling is so expensive and so time-consuming to get right. Heavy Rain took years and tens of millions of dollars to produce. Prose fiction, on the other hand, is relatively cheap and quick to produce. I imagine that prose fiction will remain the standard but that interactive stories such as Heavy Rain will continue to present a unique experience. The multimedia capabilities of the iPad could present some interesting possibilities such as the return of the Choose Your Own Adventures books that I loved as a kid but this time with far more complexity and innovation. Or how the use of digital graphic novels could explode with full access to a powerful sound and graphics processor? Perhaps the digital novels of the future could combine voice, illustration, text, and sound to create something new and wonderful. The possibilities are endless.
Top Ten Tips for Writers
The Guardian has a great article on tips for writers. The article is inspired by Elmore Leonard's top ten tips for writers and contains contributions from such luminaries such as Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman. The article can be found online at http://m.guardian.co.uk/?id=102202&story=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one.Some of my personal favorites are:Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip reading a novel - Elmore Leonard.Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK - Diana Athill.Finish the day's writing when you still want to continue - Helen Dunmore.Have fun - Helen Enright.Inspired by the article, I have written my own top ten list of tips for writers.1. Don't buy a TV.2. Don't buy a video game console.3. Don't get a girlfriend.4. In fact, just try to avoid having a life in general.5. Write every day (easier said then done) and set a word count goal for each day. Even the worst day of writing is better than nothing.6. Always write with a plan. Outline your story before you write. Not everyone is Stephen King.7. Never write by hand. You will never find the time to transfer it over to digital.8. Avoid writing groups. They don't have any idea what they're talking about.9. If you're on your eighth draft, it's time to stop and kick your manuscript out the door.10. Trust your own voice, don't let anyone tell you different.Of course, if you ask me tomorrow, you would get a completely different list. That's what makes writing so much fun. There's no right way to do it.
The Internet Post That Got Me Started
While there was many influences that got me started then this road, there was one post on the Internet in particular that inspired me to attempt to publish my novel directly to the iPhone. At the time, I was engaging in my standard hobby of surfing the Internet and wasting time. To help me waste my free time, I often read an excellent blog "Thompson on Hollywood" by entertainment journalist Anne Thompson. Thompson is endlessly fascinating when she focuses on the business side of the American film industry, addressing the major challenges that it faces while looking into interesting alternatives. Well, one day my eyes fell upon this post entitled "Who is Zoe Keating and Why Should Indie Filmmakers Care?". It is essentially a repost from another blogger by the name of Chris Dorr. I have blockquoted it below.
Several years ago, I left the movie business and entered the world of the internet and mobile. Since then, independent filmmakers have often asked me about what they should do in this “new media” digital world. As digital innovation has increased in its speed and scope over the past two years, as the iPhone has come out, as social networks have exploded, these questions have grown exponentially as well.Recently I have been telling everyone the same thing. If you want to get into the digital world, if you want to build an audience for your work, if you want to make some money, learn from Zoe Keating.Here are a few relevant facts about Zoe.She is a cellist who writes and records her original compositions. Some call her music pop, some say it is classical, and others insist it is avant garde. Zoe performs by herself with an Apple computer by her side, which allows her to sample her music and create loops that give a density and expansiveness to her sound.Though she has recorded several CDs, she does not have a record deal with any record label, nor does she want one. Her CDs are available on Amazon, CDBaby and her website as well at her live performances.Her recordings are also available on iTunes. On more than one occasion she has occupied the top sales spot in the Classical category on iTunes. As she said in a recent interview, her iTunes revenue exceeds her monthly mortgage payments. (When you spend $.99 on one of her tracks, she gets 70% after Apple gets their 30% distribution fee. Remember—no record company. So real sales equal real money for the creator.)You can find Zoe throughout the internet, on MySpace, on YouTube, on Facebook. And check out this statistic—Zoe has over 1.1 million followers on Twitter. If you do not believe me, go there yourself and find her at @zoecello.As she writes on her blog;“What is great about Twitter is that…it allows me to be myself to as many people as possible….I’ve always had this stubborn, egotistical belief that if I just had a chance to get the real me across…people would be interested. The belief that what I’m doing is worthwhile, even if no one hears it, has sustained me through a lot of rejections and hard times.I doubt my current career would be possible without the internet. Thanks to social networks I can have what feels like a direct relationship with an increasingly vast audience. There is no middleman.”In addition to selling her recordings, Zoe makes money through paid gigs, licensing her music to commercials and writing music for films. In other words, she has created a 360 degree music career that pays her well. It is her sole occupation. She has no side job to keep the music career going. Instead, the money she makes from the music keeps the music career going.None of this is easy. Zoe estimates that she spends 50% of her time on the music and 50% managing all the business and audience development that is required to keep her enterprise going.What has Zoe really done?First, through her work she has created a singular vision, an authentic voice that is uniquely hers. In the language of corporate marketing, she has created her own “personal brand”.Second, she has placed her work on digital platforms that generate awareness and sell her wares.Third, she has used the digital tools that are freely available to reach her audience directly. By doing so, she has created an ongoing conversation with her audience. She has allowed them to become part of her world so they can make her part of their world.These three elements have created an income stream for her, one that flows directly to her and no one else.If you want to do what Zoe Keating has done, you cannot execute one or two of the elements in her digital strategy. For any chance of success you must execute on all three. To use an old analogy, all three legs hold up the stool.Independent filmmakers typically make a film and turn it over to some one else who takes over the responsibility of marketing and distributing it. In today’s world if you want to succeed you have to take a different path.Today filmmakers must engage and build their audiences themselves. The digital tools now exist that allow anyone to engage directly with a vast audience. These tools are FREE. There is no excuse not to use them. And guess what, they get better every day.Don’t believe me? Like I tell every filmmaker I meet—learn from Zoe. So get going and google Zoe Keating. You know how to google don’t you?
Upon reading this quote, I actually did Google Zoe Keating and found her website. I looked her up on iTunes and bought one of her albums. In fact, I'm listening to it now. Her music is definitely off the beaten path, but it is beautiful, and most importantly unique. Her musical style is such that it would never get a record deal under the traditional path. But in the age of the Internet, the niche has become the normal. Zoe Keating has been able to make a living at what she loves the most, playing music. Even ten years ago, this would have been possible.Thus after listening to her music and checking out her website, I thought to myself, "Why can't I do this?" I write unique and bizarre fiction that nobody will publish. To be self-sustaining, I wouldn't need many readers, just enough to build an audience that I could stay in touch with. To wit, Zoe Keating showed that interesting possibilities lie upon digital publishing - if I was only brave enough to step forward.And so here I am. For those who find themselves in a similar situation to mine, listen to Chris Dorr and follow the example of Zoe Keating.Zoe Keating can be found online at www.zoekeating.com. You can follow Chris Dorr @chrisdorr.
Amazon vs. Macmillan is missing the point
April L. Hamiliton of the "Indie Author" blog has an interesting run-down here of the Amazon vs. Macmillan. In a nutshell, the battle between the online store Amazon and the large mainstream publisher has boiled down to who has the right to set the prices for eBooks on the Kindle. Amazon, interested in attracting readers to its Kindle device, had wanted to maintain a price point of $9.99 while Macmillan has wanted the right to charge more for their titles, upwards of $14.99. To wit, Macmillian has won. Amazon has conceded and will allow Macmillan to sell books at a higher rate.Indie Author argues that this is a huge loss for both writers and readers as the higher price point will not serve readers who might be interested in gettting into eBooks or writers because the higher price point will significantly reduce their market. I believe the bigger problem is not who has the power to set eBook prices, but that eBook prices are still way too high. I find it ridiculous that publishers are trying to sell an electronic version of a book, a file that takes only a few thousand dollars to produce, at high the price of the hardcover version. Hardcovers books are a physical product that you can hold, that you can give to others, and hold in the family library for generations. They are valuable. An eBook is a data file that has no pictures, no video, and no interactivity. They are simply less valuable. But that's what makes them attractive.Because an eBook has significantly reduced production costs than a mainstream published manuscript or even a POD, the purchase price can be reduced to a point where they can become an impulse buy. Just look at the success of 99 cent apps in the app store. Small development teams have been very successful making cheap applications because the resistance to buying the app is none existent. IfI buy an App for my iPhone and I don't like it, then "eh, it was only a buck." This type of price point is the critical enabler for eBooks to take off and stabilize as a content delivery system like music and movies before it. But this won't happen when Macmillan is charging $14.99 for what is essentially a text file and it won't happen even with Amazon's lower $9.99 price point. If these remain the standard price points, then electronic publishing will remain a pipe dream.So what is the correct price then?I think that April L. Hamilton has the right idea. She sells her novels for $4.99 apiece. Now that is about right. $4.99 is still low enough to encourage impulse buying while high enough to allow differentiation between novels, novellas, and short stories.As I plan to publish short stories, novellas, and full-length novels, I'll be using the following pricing list:Short Stories: 99 centsNovellas: $2.99Novels: $4.99As a consumer, these strike me as fair prices for the amount of material. If I'm paying $60 for a video game, $30 for a Blu-Ray, $20 for a DVD, $10 for a downloadable game, and 99 cents for a song, then $5 for a full length novel is just about right. It just makes a lot more sense than $15 or even $10.What will be really interesting to watch over the next few years is to see if short stories come back in a huge way. With an absurdly low price point and short duration, they would be perfect for impulse buyers who read on their way to work.Electronic publishing has the potential to dramatically change what we read and how we read but the prices have to fit the technology and competing forms of entertainment. At this point, it seems that neither Amazon or Macmillan understand this.
Building a Blurb - Evermore: Call of the Nocturne
After a long day finishing Bioshock, buying groceries, and making lunch for the work, I finally found some time to work on the web page for my first novel - Evermore: Call of the Nocturne. To start with, I've decided to stick to a simple teaser blurb. Despite its short length, blurb writing is no easy task. In the two years that I've struggled to get COTN published, I have always a challenge summarizing the story. My first synopsis was eight pages. I managed to shorten that to five for my later submissions. For a blurb, on the other hand, you only have 100 words or so. Not very much space.So for help on this task, I turned, as usual, to Google. Google led me to the following link by Marilynn Byerly which helped me a lot in writing my blurb. Marilynn has specific tips for each of different genres in which she writes. Based on her science fiction advice, I wrote the following:
Adam should be a happy man. He is the creator of Evermore, a virtual reality world in which millions of people play, work, and live out their lives. Days away from an initial stock offering that will make him a millionaire, Adam is on top of the world. But there is one secret that Adam must hide. Evermore can kill you.Faced with a sudden and inexplicable murder inside his virtual paradise, Adam must turn to a dangerous mercenary known only by the name Blue. Driven by her insatiable lust for violence, Blue must enter Evermore and hunt down the killer. But once she jacks in, will she be ready for the secrets that await her?Evermore: Call of the Nocturne is a science-fiction digital novel coming to iPhones everything Fall 2010.
All in all, not a bad first try at it. This blurb will of course change as we get closer to publication but to be frank I am pretty happy with my first try.The Evermore: Call of the Nocturne page can be found at http://scottblurton.com/?page_id=23. Stayed tuned to this page for new information about my first digital novel.
The Biggest Apple News Today Was Not the iPad
There was great excitement among tech geeks today as Apple revealed its first-generation iPad. Some people like it, some people hate it, but you can't deny that there is some great potential there. However, the iPad announcement was not the biggest news of the day. This was.That's right. Apple has created their own electronic book store.
Now in their announcement today, Apple boasted the support of five major publishing houses including Penguin, Macmillan, and Simon & Shuster and most likely many more. However, that in itself is not a particularly revolutionary concept for digital publishing.What is revolutionary is Apple's vision for the digital publishing medium as covered in this article by Wired. According to Wired, Apple's goal is not simply to sell mainstream books, but to revolutionize publishing in the same way that they revolutionized music and movies. In a sense, Apple wants to open up content production to everyone, a strategy that they call crowd-sourcing. This was the strategy that propelled the App Store to over a 100,000 apps, 3 billion downloads, and over a billion dollars in revenue.With books, if the Wired story is correct, that means that Apple would allow small publishers to publish content for the iBookstore while only taking a 30% cut.The consequences for our nascent industry are astonishing. The traditional chokepoints to distribution would essentially be annihilated. Through the iBookstore, essentially anybody would be able to sell their content to everyone for the first time and in only one place.So rather than sell self-published digital novels on Amazon, and Smashwords, and numerous other small distributors, you would sell it on iBookstore and reach an already established user base of millions (assuming that they'll bring the iBookstore to iPhone).That's it. No more half-solutions, no more backdoors, just one-stop shopping for everything.When I saw this story this morning, my jaw dropped. My game plan had to change. My goal was not just to get my novel onto iPhones. My goal is now to get my novel onto the iBookstore.How to do that however is left unanswered. If we are to go by the experiences of iTunes, then within a few months we'll have to go through a third-party like CDBaby that has an Apple License. Regardless of how it's done, it is apparent that it will soon be possible to self-publish your stories and sell them directly onto the iPhone and the iPad. This has been the holy grail for self-publishers and now it's within reach.Another interesting choice for Apple's new iBooks service is the adoption of the open source ePub file format. The ePub file format does have some detractors but it has one huge advantage over the "Meat Grinder" option that Smashwords offers: control. Using the ePub file format allows you complete control over how your digital book is displayed. This means that not only will you be able to publish your books on iPhone, you will be able to manage the typesetting of the manuscript. As someone who was discouraged by the Meat-Grinder one-size-fits-all typesetting of Smashwords, today's development enables me to make my manuscript look indistinguishable from the books from the major publishing houses. That is a major improvement.In short, it's a brand new world for digital self-publishing thanks to Apple and more importantly the new iBookstore. It is a world that I and many other prospective digital novelists will have to learn how to navigate. I hope that you will be able to join me.