Storytelling 2.0

The inventor of C.S.I. is trying to give readers a more immersive experience. Read this: Zero Marks For 'Storytelling 2.0'. An excerpt:

Hyperbole alert: the next next big thing in publishing is on the horizon. While commuters get excited about the Sony Reader, there's a new buzzword to force down: the "digi novel". The brainchild of Mr CSI, Anthony Zuiker, the digi novel is a book (in the physical, 20th century sense) with accompanying online footage which continues the plot.

With the modesty of one of the most important men in the American media, Zuiker thinks the digi-novel "offers publishing a chance to catch up with the YouTube generation that has lost passion for reading". That chance comes at a price; Penguin imprint Dutton are paying Zuiker a seven-figure sum.

"I want to give traditional crime novel readers a more immersive experience," Zuiker explains of what's been labelled "storytelling 2.0". Not wanting to some like a vinyl bore, but isn't reading a fairly immersive experience as it is? Especially in a genre like crime which focuses on location, characters and keeps the reader guessing.

It turns out Zuiker is a bit tepid about reading. "I personally don't have the attention economy to read a 250-page crime novel from start to finish," Zuiker admits, suggesting he hasn't read any of the 20-odd CSI novels which come in at a deal-breaking 350 pages. Not surprisingly, Zuiker doesn't have the "attention economy" to write one either. He'll write an outline for the book and then a novelist will realise it.

Thanks to Zen In Darkness for sending this in.