The iPad, Transmedia, and the Future of Publishers
By Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Chief Executive Optimist, Digital Book World
Over 25 years, Apple has earned the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to their tribe. They can get the word out about a new product without a lot of money because one by one, they’ve signed people up. They didn’t sell 300,000 iPads in one day, they sold them over a few decades.
The iPad reviews are in, and whether positive, negative or on the fence loaded with caveats, the most common underlying thread is that Apple has created a device that could eventually change the way we acquire, consume and interact with digital content.
This potential change is important to publishers of all kinds, but particularly to those of books as the eBook experience on the iPad is arguably one of its weakest features.
While iBooks, Kindle and Kobo (the three eBook apps I tested) are all solid readers with varying appeal, replicating the reading experience of a print book via static EPUB files (on a device that weighs twice as much an average book!) is like driving a Porsche to the corner store for a six-pack of Old Milwaukee. While test-driving eBooks on the iPad, I limited myself to free books, samples, and in the case of Kindle, ebooks my wife and I have already purchased for her Gen 1 device (which she loves, BTW, despite the limited inventory of books she actually wants to read), and I wasn’t terribly impressed by any of them.
I also downloaded a variety of other apps, all free, and NPR, Epicurious and Disney’s Toy Story each demonstrated the real potential for delivering a truly engaging, innovative reading experience that leverages the iPad’s strengths and comes close to aligning with Apple’s marketing of it as a “magical and revolutionary” device. The Marvel Comics app (powered by ComiXology, whose multi-publisher inventory is impressive) is also a notable step towards realizing Jim Fallone’s compelling vision for digital comics, and if Graphic.ly delivers on the promise suggested by its private beta, the iPad could truly be a game-changer for comics.
As Eric Freese noted in his iPad review, there is the very real possibility that the higher eBook prices some publishers have fought for, using Apple’s entry into the market as leverage, could backfire on them, and soon:
Next to its screen size and capacity, herein is perhaps the biggest benefit of the iPad as an eReading device − its ability to purchase and download eBooks from any retailer (assuming Barnes and Noble releases their app soon).
This might actually drive prices down since the iPad enables direct head-to-head competition between eBook retailers.
And therein lies the problem for regular eBooks, and by extension, their traditional publishers.
Why pay $9.99+ for a single eBook, when there are far more compelling apps available for much less money, all based on familiar brands, that take full advantage of the $500+ investment in the device? At $9.99, eBooks are competing with everything from Netflix, which allows you to stream unlimited movies for $8.99/month, to well-known games like Scrabble, Need for Speed, Command and Conquer, and Civilization Revolution, all of which are $9.99 – $14.99.
An interesting, and seemingly unrelated announcement came out this week via Deadline Hollywood that should give everyone in the publishing food chain something to think about:
I’ve learned that a significant All-Boards meeting for the Producers Guild of America took place tonight. Sources tell me that the members voted on a series of amendments that qualify individuals as professional producers. More importantly, for the first time in the guild’s history, they voted on and ratified a new credit — that of the Transmedia Producer — which had been shepherded by such Hollywood names as Mark Gordon, Gael Anne Hurd, Jeff Gomez, Alison Savage, and Chris Pfaff.
This Guild-wide adoption is unprecedented as it will allow executives who expand storylines of franchises onto multiple platforms to receive official credit on these projects as “Transmedia Producers”. These producers develop cross platform storylines on Film, Television, Short Film, Broadband, Publishing, Comics, Animation, and Mobile — and now, they’ll be credited with an official title. I’m told this is a historic move for the PGA because the guild rarely backs new credits. “These amendments demonstrate how the guild supports producers making and changing the game,” a source told me tonight.
The definition of transmedia is up for debate, but the one I prefer focuses on the storyworld first, distribution channels second, with the latter determined via a collaborative process that puts the author’s creative vision at the center. Most so-called transmedia projects are really just cross-media marketing initiatives and/or brand extensions, driven by licensing deals and a parceling out of rights in a manner that often includes loss of creative control by the author. Star Wars is the go-to example of a transmedia property, and while it has definitely evolved into a legitimate one, it didn’t start out that way.
The recognition of “Transmedia Producer” by the PGA is important as it potentially shifts power away from literary agents and publishers whose sole focus is on the book, print or electronic, instead of the underlying story, its creator and the varied platforms now available to storytellers, whether fictional or truth.
If the iPad fulfills its promise of changing the way we interact with digital content, the question of territorial rights for eBooks and the temptation to split eBook rights from print deals could become even thornier as the book becomes just one of a variety of platforms available to authors in a transmedia world, and “Transmedia Producers” become the preferred gatekeepers.
While there are some in the publishing world who appear to have seen this shift coming — including Open Road Integrated Media, Movable Type Literary Group, and Random House — developing new business models to take advantage of cross-media opportunities, can any of them compete with a truly collaborative approach that’s a far more natural fit for film producers?
Where does the book, and the publishing supply chain devoted to it, fit in a transmedia world?
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Executive Optimist for Digital Book World.
Interested in learning more about using transmedia storytelling and cross-media strategies? Join us at StoryWorld, the only major gathering of industry leaders, decision makers, and transmedia specialists, to explore new business models, innovative partnerships, and fresh revenue streams.
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Excellent article.
The problem with existing publishers and other established media companies is loss aversion. Even though existing revenues are dwindling, no clear-cut future model yet exists and hence they have the attitude of “better the revenues we know than the ones we don’t”.
The world has only just scratched the surface of the potential for transmedia and it has HUGE opportunities for authors and publishers. Why? Because what the medium needs is good stories, told well across multiple platforms. See yourself as a connector of readers to authors rather than a provider of printed materials.
The crisis of faith in the industry has created far too much techno-fetish. This is evident in the many quirky, ill-fitting interactive/cross-media experiments that fail to place the reader’s enjoyment/engagement and lifestyle choices at the heart of the experience.
As a transmedia producer now working with an established writer, I don’t see myself as a gatekeeper but as the agent and publisher rolled into one. I recommend that you follow the development of our transmedia experience, LowLifes (http://lowlifes.ning.com) as it evolves over the coming months. You’ll see that we have a true focus on story, on how the story is consumed and have an innovative business model that benefits from piracy rather than runs from it. I have already posted a couple of blog posts explaining my approach and I’d be delighted to discuss and debate with anyone. If we find the right model then everyone can benefit – the author, the reader and the players that enhance that relationship.
I think that salvation for publishing will come from outside the industry because inside you can’t see the wood for the trees.
Robert
“agent and publisher rolled into one”
That’s exactly how I see Transmedia Producer evolving over the next year or two, competing with both for the best projects and being able to offer a much more compelling vision to an author that’s larger than a book. I attended DIY Days NYC this past weekend and it really helped me get a handle on what transmedia could mean for authors: http://bit.ly/a4ANyQ
Thanks for the link to LowLifes; I’ll check it out!
This is a really interesting post and it’s fabulous that the PGA have recognised transmedia as a skill intrinsic to expanding storyworlds. (although I have been approached and asked why golfers would be interested in transmedia!)
It could be true that ‘salvation for publishing will come from outside the industry, because inside you can’t see the wood for the trees’, as there is caution and scepticism about transmedia within publishing, however there are also many publishers excited about experimentation and keen to expand storyworlds too.
For me, it isn’t so much about the iPad, the Kindle, Kobo, Stanza or e-readers, as ‘one-size-fits-all’ won’t work when looking at something as personal as a reading experience. It isn’t so much about focussing on the device, as the platform – and how that platform can enhance and drive the story focus. There will always be relentless arguments about the future of publishing and dedicated ‘serious readers’ will always complain about new technologies or shifting sands. There will also be legions of readers who want bite-sized chunks of story, options to watch video content supported by text and perhaps even to tweet about it as a participant afterwards. They’re the ones that will love transmedia novels!
In terms of truly combining text, video and audio it seems the iPad could change the way we acquire, consume and interact with digital content and it’s interesting that Guy found that some of the apps ‘demonstrated the real potential for delivering a truly engaging, innovative reading experience’ which will be where publishers will see the golden opportunity and create the space for transmedia novels to jump in.
‘Next to its screen size and capacity, herein is perhaps the biggest benefit of the iPad as an eReading device − its ability to purchase and download eBooks from any retailer’ which brings up the subject of accessibility. In our multi-tasking, fast-moving, short attention span lives, content that is accessible will be easier to discover as word-of-mouse will help to spread snippets virally.
As far as the Producers Guild of America’s latest announcement is concerned, it must be remembered that any transmedia property will only work if it’s supported by an architecture of strategy which has to be rooted deep within genre and audience demographics. Like Guy, I also prefer the definition of transmedia that focuses on storyworld first and feel that a truly credible transmedia project will herald storyworld as its primary focus. Without that focus, it shifts from a viable transmedia rollout to one of those ‘cross-media marketing initiatives and/or brand extensions’.
Transmedia novelists are still organically growing and a new breed of reader (one that embraces the ‘truly engaging, innovative reading experience’ will require a new breed of writer and publisher too. Transmedia publishing won’t replace publishing as we know it, but will offer options to those who want them. Advertising agencies are harnessing ‘story’ and fragmenting brand presence through social media means, infiltrating and embedding logos and brands within these stories. For transmedia novelists (and publishers) to retain creative control will require more than a repurposing of content. This might give a ‘taste’ of what transmedia can ‘do’, but for it to work on all levels it must be intrinsically built in and not bolted on. There’s no doubt that publishing a transmedia fiction book will need meticulous planning, genre awareness and an ear-to-the-ground for audience behaviours. No reader wants to feel like they’re being sold to. As consumers we are hardened to embedded logos and brand names in magazines and movies, but reading is an extremely personal activity and to begin carelessly placing ‘gimmicks’ within a novel takes something from it. Here we are – back to strategy!
Transmedia Producers will be the new ‘gatekeepers’ in the same way that publishers will be. Publishers are exposed to potentially fabulous storyworlds on a daily basis and if writers can begin to think transmedially without it being gimmicky, i.e., so that it is relevant to the story and the platform, then transmedia publishing can begin to lift off.
Not every storyworld will fit as a transmedia novel but as accessibility opens doors and presents new options, so these transmedia elements will bring new readers and modes of fragmentation. For me, transmedia opens the gates for enhanced experiences, deeper levels of immersion and a host of options for those lean-back and lean-forward moments. In a nutshell, to receive your stories in the way that you want them!
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