eLitereate: LA Times Online Novel Contest

Print may not be dead quite yet, but a recent literary initiative by the Los Angeles Times could relegate the paper's native medium as an afterthought to its digitally rendered sibling. In the form of a daily online contest, hosted by award-winning journalist Steve Lopez, the Times has launched a literary collaboration under the title Birds of Paradise.

Lopez penned the first chapter of the "novel collaboration" on March 27, and is slated to wrap the novel on April 26 -- everything in between, however, is reader-submitted. For a traditional media company, it's an uncommon inclination toward the digital space, and especially user-generated content, which has been a much-feared element of this changing digital landscape.

While not a likely candidate for the Pulitzer shortlist, Birds of Paradise is nevertheless an important literary initiative by virtue of its "open-source" approach. Though not an idea exclusive to the digital realm, running it online certainly streamlines the process and -- perhaps most importantly -- attracts a wide array of new readers (how many of you, for example, subscribe to the LA Times?).

As for the future of the book after its final "publication" online, it will be presented aurally in 'meat space' at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books with a reading by each of the collaborators. Beyond that, the future of the book is unclear, but it's not unimaginable for the text to find its way to print.

First, more contributors of course means more grassroots sales potential, and coupled with the paper's inherent marketing power (full-page ad, anyone?) the Times could presume enough sales to warrant a physical printing of it.

The question is: does it need to?

Considering the lack of growth in sales suffered by the publishing industry in recent years -- a 2.5% compound annual growth rate is essentially a "don't buy" in Mad Money terms -- Birds may best be served if it remains in its original, digital form.

While similar initiatives for online serials -- some from major authors (most notably Dave Eggers and Stephen King) -- were met with little fanfare or success, the collective approach to this will most assuredly drive more buzz and traffic.

A strong online push from the LA Times and any partner websites could drive considerable traffic to the page where the final book is hosted. If they were to beef up the design, paginate the chapters, add images (another UGC campaign, maybe?), the initiative could result in some very monetizable web real estate, bolstered by heavy user engagement. Add to that the publication of the runners-up for each day, plus the page views garnered by the submission process, and the LA Times could have found a formula for a successful online serial.

The last little teeny detail to consider here is the quality of the completed tome, which I'll let you decide for yourself.  Start from the beginning of the novel here, or submit your own chapter here.

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Chris is a writer and digital media etc etc etc. He enjoys the Helvetica family of sans-serif fonts and taking arm's-length photos of himself. Stay tuned for his next, long-overdue installment of the 50 Book Blog later this week, in which he promises to recap at least four new books and get back on track to read 50 books in 2008.