In case you haven’t heard the good news yet, the new and improved Lerner Interactive Books™ product line is now officially up and running. The blood, sweat, and tears of the valiant Adriano Fruzzetti (I have to mention him in every blog post because of our under-the-table endorsement deal) have been converted into the snazzy enhancements you’ve all been awaiting with baited breath. Now you can check them out for yourself with a free 30-day trial. But first, enjoy this week’s offering of juicy web links and some brief musings thereon.
Links:
- Jeff Gomez of Penguin asks, “How can we use digital devices to change the way we tell stories?” (Now say “skeuomorph” five times fast.) [publishingperspectives.com]
- One French company takes a stab at answering Mr. Gomez’s question, claiming to offer “a new reading experience.”
- The idea for eReaders has been around much longer than we thought. [New York Daily News]
- This Super Bowl commercial set in a library reminds us how exciting and dramatic reading can be. Or it tells us to buy cookies. It’s a toss-up. [via School Library Journal]
Musings:
- If you’re a secret curmudgeon (cough, like me, cough) and think the first and second links are a stretch, look at the third link. Stretching is the name of the game and, moreover, always has been. Not every “This is the future” idea will stick, of course (bonus link from Wired: No, the Obama administration will not be building a Death Star)…but if there’s one thing the book business ought to be good at, it’s fostering creativity of all kinds. Far-fetched can be good if it’s the opposite of shortsighted.
- Entertainment value looms large in this batch of links. At Lerner, though, entertaining readers isn’t the only goal. Because so many of our products are meant to be teaching tools and learning resources, we’re constantly aiming for the magical middle region of the entertainment/education Venn diagram. Judge for yourself how we’re doing on that front.
- I’m not suddenly overwhelmed by an urge to buy cookies, or to destroy libraries, but something about this commercial does ring true as a depiction of how bookish Minnesotans argue….