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By David Rothman

image IdeaLogical‘s Mike Shatzkin, a well-known book industry consultant on such topics as marketing and the future of books, has started blogging. Congratulations, Mike! This is a Good Thing, for both you and the book business—since in many ways you’re a bridge between the old and the new. 

One reason for the new Shatzkin blog, known as The Shatzkin Files? IdeaLogical’s Web traffic grew after Mike let readers speak up in comments in his "Speeches" area.

The shared annotations and IDPF angles

Ideally Mike can join me and others in urging the IDPF to get serious about creating robust standards for shared annotations in e-books, now that he’s seen interactivity’s virtues on the Web. In plain English, shared annotations mean it would be easier to talk back to the writer and also reach fellow readers. I myself saw TeleRead’s traffic soar after I added comment capability. Why shouldn’t the same idea apply to appropriate books?

Meanwhile, regardless of these tough times, the IDPF deserves more financial support from publishers, to speed the creation and adoption of standards. One reason for all the layoffs in publishing, beyond the wretched economy, is the book industry’s fear of innovation. Standards are crucial to reversing this in the e-book area; and what better example than this issue of shared annotations?

The glories of book communities

As a novelist, I have mixed feeling about reader annotation of fiction, but still can see a place for it, especially in romance books whose readers enjoy connecting with like-minded souls.

What’s more, interactivity definitively ought to be the norm for many and perhaps most kinds of nonfiction books. Readers not only can help a writer improve the next editions of a printed book, they can also form communities—making the e-book version more open to the subscription model.

Related: Will WiFi mean LESS book-reading on planes?, by Mike. Here’s my take. If books become more interactive, then WiFi might actually help.

 
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