eLiterate: Bock Book, Viral Vids & More

There's a lot of uncertainty and debate -- particularly among Gatherers -- about the future of books in the digital age, and I wanted to bring to light a few recent developments that may hint at a new e-future for our beloved pasttime.

Charles Bock, best-selling author of Beautiful Children, recently took part in a two-day experiment with his publisher, Random House, to give away his book online for free. Though the results of this literary e-for-all are unclear, others have also joined in the fun: cross-town Big Five competitor Harper Collins is temporarily giving reader's an e-look at their current catalogue, with the hope that it'll inspire book sales (The New York Times reports). Authors Paulo Coelho and Neil Gaiman participate in the experiement.

Bock also appears in the inaugural webisode of the new literary channel, TitlePage.tv -- a PBS-style roundtable -- along side authors Richard Price, Colin Harrison, Susan Choi. The conceit is promising: TitlePage aspires to "bring together four of today's top authors at a time for unscripted, passionate conversations about their work." Unfortunately, however, the execution leaves much to be desired -- particularly for a web audience. Against conventional wisdom, this episode runs about an hour, and is hosted by a guy who might as well have adorned his black mock turtleneck with a sticker that says, "Hello My Name Is Traditional Media."

So hopefully TitlePage takes a lesson from their fellow online literary innovators at BookVideos.tv, a site that offers publishers a new means to showcase their authors. Though more transparently commercial in nature, these book videos are incredibly successful at getting the story across in a snackable segment: get in, meet the author, hear a unique perspective, and get out in five minutes or less. Outsourcing these jobs to the experts at TurnHere.tv is a brilliant move by publishers, who would likely screw up or overcook such videos themselves. Unlike TitlePage, I'll be watching the content on BookVideos with great interest.

And while we're on the subject of online video worth watching -- TelevisionWeek reporter and fellow Gatherer Daisy Whitney quips about these and a few other online book initiatives in a recent episode of her New Media Minute. She also reviews a book and poses a word-of-mouth marketing challenge that may interest many of you. Check out Daisy's video podcast here.

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About this Gather Correspondent: Chris Steib is a writer and digital product manager living in New York City. He is the former editor/founder of Void magazine and continues to dream of online literary innovations and endeavors. In the meantime, however, he's going to read 50 books. Wish him luck.