Stephen Fry and Our Transmedia Reading Future

Actor/comedian/intellectual/newspaper columnist/quiz-show host/techno-bibliophile Stephen Fry?s new autobiography The Fry Chronicles is available in several different editions: hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, naturally, but also an enhanced book in Apple?s iBooks store and most intriguingly, an interactive application called myFry for iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad.
This signals something new. The mere fact of bundling a book as an application is old hat; there was a time, after all, before the Kindle and iBooks apps, when most apps for the iPhone were books. As the video above shows, though, myFry provides both the metadata and interface necessary to read the book nonlinearly ? a synthesis of the familiar (flipping through the pages, jumping to any point one likes, not just a chapter head) and the new (sorting data by content tags rather than chapter titles or page numbers; following associative rather than sequential threads).
Alas, myFry is currently not available in the US; in the UK, it costs about 8 pounds, or about $12.50. Also, it?s not currently a universal application, meaning that iPhone and iPad users would have to purchase the application separately for each device.
As for other e-book formats, the iBook version of The Fry Chronicles is organized in the familiar manner, but enhanced with video clips, mostly of the author himself, hyperlinks, and other multimedia. The Kindle e-book, like the print versions, consist of the familiar rows of text + occasional images book-readers have come to know and love for ages.
In the video below, Fry justifies his (and his publisher Penguin?s) approach to e-publishing, and articulates his vision of the future of books: ?I think the point is not why I?ve done this, but really why anybody wouldn?t do it now.?


Fry?s embrace of electronic reading is significant in no small part because of the depth of his knowledge of the history of print. In 2008 he made and starred in a BBC documentary on Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press, titled The Machine That Made Us. He?s also a novelist, a journalist, and a celebrated narrator of audiobooks. There are few public figures with the kind of total media experience that he has, both as a performer and thinker.
The myFry application does have its critics. Gavin C. Pugh, a writer for NextRead and FutureBook, complains:
I like a book to look like a book. I like the text to be formatted paragraphs that are indented unless you need to show a scene-break. If they are formatted like a webpage as Penguin have chosen to do here it changes the flow, at least for me. I also like to see each page turn.
Instead each section is presented as a webpage not only in formatting but in scrolling. And it does spoil the flow. Readers tend to scan webpages but absorb books (or things that look like books). How do I know the difference? I downloaded the sample Kindle and iBook versions. I didn?t feel any connection with app but when I started reading the Kindle version my finger ended up hovering over ?buy? option
The Kindle version, too, can be read on any device that supports the Kindle app; Pugh appreciates the multimedia enhancements of the iBook version, but laments that it?s limited to iDevices. Chris Matthews at TeleRead adds that the myFry app ?does seem a bit expensive for what you get.?
It?s no longer only print aficionados who are resisting the next generation of e-books; experienced digital readers are protesting too, in the name of price, cross-platform portability, and book-specific standards. Meanwhile, other digital readers are waiting for something new; a book designed specifically not only for digital reading but for their device, that takes advantage of all of its strengths to present an innovative reading experience.
I see one potential solution to this impasse: transmedia bundling.
By transmedia, in this instance, I mean simply that different or derivative versions of the same object exist in different media formats. In this case, it?s printed books, audiobooks, enhanced and plain-vanilla e-books, and software applications. It could also include web sites, video games, posters, licensed merchandise, and so forth.
The movie industry has been extremely savvy about bundling its transmedia products ? at least after films leave the theater. You can buy a deluxe edition of a film and receive a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, a booklet, an interactive game, a digital file of the film for your computer or media player, and other accessories, for a single price, usually not significantly more than if you had purchased just the DVD.
The book publishing industry hasn?t followed their lead. Instead, every product is treated discretely, released along different production schedules. Moreover, the industry has generally assumed that every e-book sold is a print sale lost ? that the few readers interested in reading a book in both a print and electronic version will gladly pay full-price for both.
Now, however, we?re at the point where iBooks, iPad, and Kindle are not offering different scans of the same book, but genuinely different products ? each of which may appeal to different readers, but also to the same reader differently depending on context.
The devices ? especially dedicated e-readers ? have also reached the point where it?s not uncommon for users to have a personal computer, a tablet, an e-reader, a smartphone, and a print library. But there is no way, short of purchasing a book and scanning it yourself, to read the same book in even a handful of those distinct contexts without spending a fortune.
Suppose instead that Penguin offered a deluxe hardcover version of Fry?s book for $35. Or even $50. (Amazon UK is currently selling the hardcover for 9 pounds, or about $14.) With this, you would get:
A handsome slipcover;
A finely printed book;
An audiobook, on either CD or mp3;
An e-book, in the format of your choice;
A software application, for the OS (mobile or otherwise) of your choice;
A commemorative flag, T-shirt, poster, and/or pin.
In other words, instead of punishing your transmedia collectors, reward and embrace them. Let bibliophiles strive to outdo one another with the audacity of cinephiles. Make the release of a new book an event.
Ripping compact discs provided a natural way to enjoy music anywhere; DVDs quickly did the same for movies. Now even Blu-ray?s DRM days are dwindling. In all of these cases, the industry lagged and fretted about privacy while users found and shared solutions on their own.
That?s already beginning with books. This won?t be the end.
See Also:
Why Metadata Matters for the Future of E-Books
E-Books Are Still Waiting for Their Avant-Garde
Exclusive: The Sounds of Star Wars Book ? Video ? Wired
Make Books 'Pop' With New Augmented Reality Tech
Q&A: William Gibson discusses Spook Country and Interactive ?

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