I for one am fascinated by the effect of new media tools on traditional narrative fiction. As more and more people begin to consume digital content, the idea of a digital novel will seem less odd. That begins today.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ryu Murakami is releasing his next novel as an iPad only artifact. I can’t wait to read it.
Don’t confuse him with Haruki Murakami(who we REALLY want to see tackle this medium). Instead, know that he is responsible for the inception of Audition, which was adapted into a feature film by Takashi Miike.
The publishing industry is all fucked up, and writers aren’t seeing much return on their works. This digital distribution system, I hope, will also ensure that writers het a chance to pocket a bit more cash from their works, but not all of them will get write-ups in the WSJ, which begs the question: How will these works be advertised? Obviously, new media – for example, twitter and Facebook – will play a huge role. But outside of how often the name of these works and links to them are scattered over the Internet, the artist/writer will most likely come to the same conclusion that corporations are coming to when tackling the web of Internet advertising. I suspect we will begin to see a cross breading between the artifact and its marketing. The film Cloverfield and others come to mind. What we may see is a deeper integration between the artifact and its promotion, which makes sense. Advertising is the great art of our time. What is a book? It is a product with soul. It’s advertising will need to be the same.
Read some of my thoughts on Old Spice’s advertising strategy here.
New Media Fiction 