Guest Post from Marcus of Writing Investigated

          Don't be intimidated but we're gonna talk technical today.  Well, I shouldn't say we because today's post is a guest spot from Marcus of Writing Investigated.   And I guess it's not going to be all that technical from our point of view.  I even kind of understand what's going on here and Marcus has provided illustrations and even  a demonstration video.  Just give a listen and let him know what you think.


        So, Marcus, tell the readers who you are and let us know what you've got for us today:

I'm the person who made the navigation buttons for the A-Z Challenge
2011.

It was during the challenge that I got the idea I'd like to present to
you today - signed ebooks. Yes, I know, most people still read paper
books, but ebooks are gaining fast in popularity. Brace yourself paper
book lovers because I am about to mention bibliophile and ebooks
together - you may need a second cup of coffee or tea.

I've always been a bit of a bibliophile. Beautifully produced books
always held a fascination for me. One drawback of ebooks is that they
cannot be personalized by signing. While manually formatting my first
short story for various ebook formats, I realized that ebooks could be
personalized and even signed by the author.




The value of signing books is in the personalization. The author
creates a unique book by writing a dedication and signing the book.
This creates a connection between author and reader. Digital
communications offer a great potential to expand this connection
beyond the mere book signing. A benefit for both authors and readers.
More on that another time. Let's take the first step and look how
ebooks can be personalized.

A few projects have recently sprung up which try to adapt book
signings to digital media, notably IdolVine and KindleGraph. However,
neither of those seem to embed the author's signature into an ebook,
from what I could tell. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I set about creating a web application which would create a
personalised ebook with the author's inscription. It works like this:
- Authors place order buttons on their websites, e.g. a Paypal button
- When a signed copy is ordered the author is notified and receives a
message from the buyer
- The author digitally signs and uploads the inscription
- The new ebook is created and emailed to the reader/buyer




The actual signing is done in one of three ways:
- Using pen and paper, then scanned
- Using a graphics tablet. This is a digital form of pen and paper,
costing from about $35-$50, used mainly by illustrators and graphic
artists.
- Using an iPad, or other Slate, with a stylus. A stylus is a pen for
touchscreens, costing from about $15-25.

I used a graphics tablet, Wacom's "Bamboo Pen", to produce the
inscriptions you see here and in the video presentation below. It
works great after a little practice, and with the bonus that you can
use it for drawing as well.





At this point, you may be thinking this all sounds very nice, but are
having difficulty actually imagining how it all works in practice. I
hope the following video presentation and downloading a sample ebook
will provide an aha-moment for you. If not, you can email me any
specific questions.





video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l023VZPkTuY


I'm now looking for other authors who would like to try signing their
ebooks. You could even do a live event over Skype, chat or Twitter. If
you are an author interested in signing ebooks please email me. As
explained above, you will need either a scanner, a graphics tablet, or
an iPad with a stylus (I haven't tried the latter myself yet).

If you're intrigued but need a little tempting, you can play with the
live demo. It let's you sign with your mouse in your web browser. Yes
I know, I didn't mention that possibility yet. Mainly because writing
your name with your mouse is, shall we say, sub-optimal. I think it
looks as though a drunken sparrow, trained to write one's name, had
been let loose on the page :-)  But it's still nice to scribble around
a bit and get an ebook with one's scribbling on the title page. Just
to try it out. Email me if you want to let the sparrow loose.

You can also download the samples shown in the video and take a look
yourself at a real signed ebook:

Kindle:

http://gnomes.wordit.com.s3.amazonaws.com/emma-meets-the-walkabout-gnomes-signed-sample-lee.mobi

EPUB:

http://gnomes.wordit.com.s3.amazonaws.com/emma-meets-the-walkabout-gnomes-signed-sample.epub


If you have any suggestions about signing ebooks or questions, leave a
comment, or feel free to email me at wordituk (AT) gmail (dot) com.





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Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter

Harry Potter Fanfiction / Pride and Prejudice Mash Ups 

        Harry Potter, now a man and quite wealthy, goes to visit his friend and fellow Hogwarts alumnus Charles Bingley, who has recently taken residence at the manor Netherfield Park.  A neighboring family of witches by the name of Bennet is invited to a party at the mansion at which point Elizabeth, one of the Bennet daughters and a witch with extraordinary powers, is introduced to Harry Potter, a wizard of great renown.   A misunderstanding first occurs, but eventually a romantic relationship develops and together they must battle the forces that are out to destroy them.

        It's a derivative story for sure.  And this particular derivative is not even original with me.  When I Googled the concept that I thought would be mine, I found that others had already come up with the idea.  As they say, there's nothing new under the sun.  Oh sure, there might be slightly new approaches and ideas that seem uniquely original, but there is nothing that is completely new and original.  If there were, we probably wouldn't even understand it.  By necessity one thing leads to another and all things are derived from or related to previously existing ideas.

         To be derivative is not a bad thing, but in deriving one thing from another one needs to paint a bit of oneself into the newly derived creation or at least add some touch that will add some hint of originality.  Personally I don't understand the lure of fan fiction, but I do believe that to make a work of this nature more interesting, a writer needs to tell a different story than the source material or tell the old story in a very different way.  Imitation may come in the form of flattery or even satire, but absolute imitation may be something akin to plagiarism.

Blog Derivatives 

       We've all done something on our blogs that we've seen on other blogs.  The natural tendency is to copy what works, what is successful, or what looks fun or interesting.  There are even basic rules or suggestions for blogging that we have found cited on many blogs, perhaps even our own.  We usually set up our blogs using templates and common formats.  I've been to a few blogs that don't and I usually don't stay long or go back because they are chaotic and that is not for me.

       Bloggers repeat topics, share themes, and participate in blogfests and memes.  The secret is to add something new and different to what is basically the same as what others have done.  How many times have we read blog posts about publishing, querying, or getting an agent?   We keep reading them because each story is told from a different perspective with some new twists thrown in.  If those blog posts were just cut and pastes from previous posts we'd stop reading them pretty quickly and start searching for the bloggers with unique voices.  Hopefully with each new post comes prospects of learning something we didn't know before, reviewing what we need to remember, or being entertained by good writing.

        Many people do round-up posts where they link to interesting posts of the previous week.  One blog that I follow has begun to do this and I was impressed by some of the excellent blog posts she linked to from last week.  If you like this sort of thing, check out Atsiko's Chimney.  She says that her round-up will become a regular feature on her blog for a while at least.  It's a derivative idea, but Atsiko is doing her research and doing the legwork to make finding these posts easier on us.

Another Twist on an Existing Concept

      Most of you probably remember Marcus of Writing Investigated.  If not, Marcus was the creative force behind the navigation buttons that many of you used for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  The concept of the buttons was an existing idea that Marcus adapted to be used for the Challenge.  The buttons made it easier to navigate sequentially through the list of participants and fun to randomly find blogs with the "Surprise Me!" button.  This was a derivative concept that was given a unique application.

       Now Marcus has come up with another brainstorm.  Marcus will be my special guest on Wednesday to tell you about an idea that will be of special interest to any of you who have either published a book or plan to in the future.  To make his explanation easier to understand he is preparing a demonstration video to be debuted here on Tossing It Out this Wednesday July 27.  I'm looking forward to seeing what he's come up with.  I hope you will join us.

       Are you a fan of Fanfiction?   Do you have any favorite fiction derivatives?   Can you think of something you've read that was absolutely original?   Do you think it's possible to create anything absolutely, uniquely new and original?   Do you adapt well to new technology or do you have Luddite tendencies like I do?



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