The last twenty years have bought
extraordinary changes to the publishing world. Among the most important have
been the emergence of the Digital Marketplace, and its younger brother, Social
Media Marketing. While purists may rue the days when everything was in print,
not to mention available in dozens of small bookstores, there is no doubt that
the new technologies have made writers’ works available to an enormous, global
audience.
The
days of innovation are not over. Newer, more democratic, ways of publishing are
on the horizon. Here then, are a couple of emerging technologies that hold
promise:
1. Auto-generated
Audio Books.
Currently,
only a select few books are turned into audio books. The process involves
professional narrators and expensive equipment. The conversion takes time and
money. Google, which controls Google Play Books, has been working to developing
Artificial Intelligence to automatically transcribe text-to-speech. Far from
the robotic voices which mangle names and words, Google has worked on using
natural voices that can handle complex words and proper nouns, and deliver
speech with authentic pitch, stress, rhythm and intonation. Once widely
available, this technology will allow audio books to become available to a vast
number of publishers and writers.
Crazy
Maple Studios, a tech company based in California has developed a software
which allows authors to recreate their books as graphic novels. While not an
automated process, it offers authors the chance to create graphic characters, plates
(or scenes) and insert animation and sound. The technology allows the author to
even introduce game play, where readers can decide what a character does. In
this way, it creates an immersive reading experience which can include gaming.
Mohan Ashtakala (mohanauthor.com) is the author of "The Yoga Zapper," a fantasy and "Karma Nation," a literary romance. he is published by Books We Love (www.bookswelove.com)
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