As we probably all know, the Internet has presented a lot of challenges (and opportunities) to the traditional publishing industry… Do they embrace the spectrum or fight against it and go the way of the horse-drawn carriage…or even the big record labels! Or do they embrace it – digital offers some incredible paradigms for redefining what telling a story is and can mean.

I think the jury is still out on what the final answer is going to be, however you can see from the way online advertising has decimated traditional newspaper margins that the writing is on the wall.

Well one traditional UK publisher, Penguin Books, is taking a different approach.  Starting on  March 18th, Penguin UK launched an ambitious digital writing project. In collaboration with alternate reality game designers Six to Start, Penguin has challenged some of its top authors to create new forms of story – designed specially for the internet.

Over six weeks a number of well known writers including Mohsin Hamid, Kevin Brooks, Naomi Alderman Nicci French will creating stories that take try to full advantage of the immediacy, connectivity and interactivity that is now possible. This could not have been done until the last couple of years.

http://www.wetellstories.co.uk

There are six digital-interactive stories to be published over six
weeks on the site. Also they have cleverly embraced viral.  Hidden on
the internet is a secret seventh story, a mysterious tale involving a
vaguely familiar girl who has a habit of getting herself lost. Readers
who follow this story will discover clues that will shape her journey
and help her on her way. These
clues will appear online and in the
real world and will direct readers to the other six stories.  The
secret seventh story will also offer the chance to win prizes.

The first story involves a clever mash-up of Google Maps and is a take on the classic The 39 Steps.

This
is a clever use of the medium and shows what is possible with a bit of
bravery and innovation.  Even more intriguing is that this opens up an
avenue for us digital marketers – it creates a new opportunity for
advertisers to engage their customers in a clever-non obvious way. Yes,
Penguin is championing digital story-telling and they are also being
very
smart marketers.

Check out the first story here.

Baron Conway