Still on that Transmedia thing

Good thing I wasn't the only one thinking about Transmedia this week or I wouldn't have anything to post. As it happens the fine folks over at Publishing Perspectives were riding a similar wavelength and posted about How Transmedia Storytelling Becomes a Billion Dollar Business. It's an interesting story about the creation of Inanimate Alice, and it involves our very own Kate Pullinger.

They follow the story up with the question "Can Publishers Transform into Transmedia Storytellers?"

Publishing Perspectives is another one of those sites that people interested in finding out where publishing is, and where it is going, should pay attention to.

Thinking Transmedia

Met with a wonderful writer this morning and in addition to her project we started talking about transmedia. Not what I expected when I was going to the meeting but a lot of thought-provoking fun. So I started thinking about a couple of posts I'd read recently about transmedia and thought I'd share. Certainly transmedia isn't for every author, but if you envision your stories, or characters across a number of media platforms, thinking of it as a transmedia project from the outset is probably the best way to capitalize on what you are doing.

The first post is a very useful 5 Stage Development Process for Transmedia Projects, and links to another post on a transmedia business model.

Post number two tells us that Transmedia Requires a New Breed of Writers, Publishers.

While you are there check out the Digital Book World site. It's full of interesting material about how publishing in the 21st Century is developing.

Follow The Reader

FOLLOW THE READER is a great new blog for 'those who read and reccomend books.' They have a lot of good interviews with publishing types who try to promote books. Have a look at an interesting post about building reader communities.

Many in publishing believe that building these communities will be essential to the life of writers and publishers in the very near future -- if they aren't already.

Gifts for Writers

Margaret Atwood had a terrific post on her blog this week about the best gifts to give budding novelists. There were some really great recommendations for books on writing.

I have thing or two I'd like to add to that list (or change):

Instead of boxes, why not get the new Sony Reader Touch Edition. A writer can use it to store their manuscript and subsequent drafts. Also, an included stylus offers freehand highlighting and annotation. Edit on-the-go!

Notebooks are handy, but another good environmentally friendly option is a digital voice recorder.

If you're a writer in this day and age, you absolutely MUST have a website. Hiring someone to do it for you can get pricey but there is so much affordable software out there that's easy to use, with good looking templates, why not try doing it yourself? I recommend Adobe Dreamweaver.

If you know a writer who likes to write everywhere but their own desk, a WiFi card might be a good little gift.

And last but not least, gift certificates to their favorite coffee house!

Coming soon: What's on the McDermid agency wishlist for 2010?