Poly-Authorism

In this digital age, there has been an assimilation of media by various mechanisms; websites, social media and online magazines now incorporate the written word alongside video, music, animation and art. To a great extent, then , book readers expect the same. Books must evolve. Look at ebooks, specifically epub3, which incorporate sound and graphics into the publication. Although considered ideal for non-fiction, it should be embraced by fiction writers. Those who do are the new experimenters and the digital word the new laboratory.

Dynamic websites are the perfect tool for poly-authorism; it becomes the core, rather than the books. From it, a diverse means of reader engagement is possible. This, of course, has been going on for some time; plenty of authors have websites and social media profiles, but the suggestion is not so much using these platforms to connect with readers, but to specifically create media to engage them instead. If books evolve, then so must authors, and experiment with engaging readers via alternative media, rather than relying on books, that is text, alone. Writers are creative and can expand their skills into avenues beyond the written word. There’s no excuse not to produce complementary media, and evolve as the written word has, to become producers, rather than remain purely authors. Music, video, artwork and audiobooks are some examples, and there are ample, often free, online tools available to do this. Moreover, who is there better at expanding a book’s imagery and theme, character and scene that the person who wrote it?