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Jul 1814 min read

The Enduring Power and Liberation of Books

Updated: Oct 24


A thick book lays open, with it's centre pages lifed up magically with a magical dust surrounding them. The book is sitting on a wooden table with candles.
Source: AI Generated

In this episode we explore the future of books, and the innovative ways we might interact with the written word. We learn about a new platform to collaborate and release work together, promoting shared ownership of creative projects. We explore the future of audiobooks, and how we can further the potential of immersive audio experiences in storytelling. Raakhee introduces us to the concept of “thunks” -- interactive nuggets of information that could change how we consume literature. We speculate on some second-order consequences of this changing landscape. As we navigate these developments, we're reminded that while formats may evolve, the power of words remains constant.





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Episode Transcript:

Raakhee: Welcome to Signal Shift, by Horizon Shift Lab. We're your hosts, Lana Price, Raakhee Natha, and Sue Chi. Each episode, we explore the latest signals in technology, culture, and society, uncovering insights that will impact our daily lives in the future. Join us as we shift perspectives, explore possibilities, and delve into real changes in our world. Curious to learn more? Go to horizonshiftlab.com.


Hello and welcome to a summer edition of Signal Shift (certainly if you're in the United States right now). And today we are talking about possibly one of the oldest forms of entertainment. Also a key form of how we gain knowledge. Something that is so integral I think to all of our lives. So taken for granted, always being there. It's something that has been touted for major change in every decade, in every era. And a lot has changed and you know a lot really hasn't. It's still fundamentally stayed the same. So it's really interesting to examine this. 


And what we're talking about today is books. And we're looking at books from the perspective of the format, publishing, really anything within that realm. But what do we envision as the future of books? And what are some signals we're picking up that are talking about some real changes coming this way? So really excited to hear what everybody has to share today. As we delve into the wonderful world of books. 


All right, Lana. 


Lana: I can go first. And so the signal that I want to highlight is a new company called Metalabel. This is a platform for people to collaborate and release work together. And you know, I think Metalabel is a signal for three trends that are happening, not just in books and book publishing and in the creative economy, but more broadly. And those three things are collaboration, new forms of ownership, and to what you're talking about, Raakhee, like a liberation of format, right?


So Metalabel as this as this platform is kind of an alternative to the current creative creator economy, which is like very individualistic, right? Like in our current system, it's about competition for attention, you know, kind of this enslavement to the algorithm, like a constant pressure to keep producing content. And, you know, I think it's unsustainable for the creators. And it's like a very lonely, you know, type of way to operate. If you're trying to kind of like get your work out there, right?


And so I think what this group is trying to do is really encourage creative collaboration and combining creative collaboration with like this financing mechanism. So for example, they had an anthology. So there are 11 writers who were writing about kind of about similar topics. So they put out an anthology together. So each writer wrote like a different chapter of the book. And then they released the book as limited edition, both print and digital. And for anyone who bought, you know, who collected the book, they also did like a round table with all of the collectors. And then they split the proceeds among the 11 writers.


And so, you know, I think what's very kind of innovative and exciting about this is. So the label takes 10 percent and the rest is split among the writers. And I assume that the writers also pooled the cost to produce the book, right? And each of them, they actually were very public about this. Like each of those writers had already written that essay, right? That went into the book. But then through this mechanism, they each made like a couple thousand dollars.


And so, you know, I think this kind of speaks to, you know, that you can do more in a group than you can do on your own, right? But also this idea of kind of this ownership economy where, you know, you're going into, I'm going to call it like there's a term like squad wealth, right? So like instead of trying to do it all on your own, you do it with your group. And you, and you split the proceeds in the group. And the transactions are actually like automatically split between all the creators. And so, I think it's really, I think it's innovative. 


And, you know, the liberation of format is that, you know, the idea that it doesn't have to be like just a physical book, right? Or just a digital book. Like they have examples of works that the label is putting out that includes a video. Like it can include a zip file, right? It can include collaborations with artists, so it's very like rich in graphics. There's in-person events combined with releases.


And so I think that it's a really cool way to promote both collaboration and experimentation. And I think especially in this age where I think one of the threats, kind of one of the big threats to books is the proliferation of AI content. And so I think this really holds the, you know, keeping the “creative” in creative writing and focusing it on our human-ness. And, you know, original ideas and concepts and promoting those.


And so, you know, so I think that's, that's what I found. And it's, you know, it's early stages, it's niche. It seems like it's for kind of more for one-off, maybe not one-off, but more for projects versus like this isn't how, you know, the sustainable way to be a writer. But I think that it's, like I said, a mechanism that doesn't quite exist. And one that could be, like, exciting.


[7:26]


Raakhee: Totally see the need for it because you're right. I mean, writing is so individualistic if anything, you know, ever has been, right. It's always about a singular author and their work. And I think the reason we see so many books out there is that people want to share their message. And I think sometimes that message can be shared more powerfully in this type of collaborative way and platform. So that's really exciting. What was this anthology about?


Lana: Well, that anthology is called The Dark Forest of the Internet. And it's, it's, I think they did a limited release. I want to say it's 777 copies. But I have actually gone on there and I've collected a couple of things myself. And so it's really fun to, you know, feel like you're supporting artists and creative people directly. And I think it's exciting to purchase something that's like a limited release, right? So you kind of have this insider feeling as well. And yeah, there's just really, there's some really cool things out there. So it's like a, it's a collection of cool stuff. So it's definitely really fun to check out.


Raakhee: And Sue, what did you have for today?


Sue: My signals are definitely a continuation of the theme that Lana brought up in terms of the mix of formats going forward, you know. And so one evolution that's already here is the, the audiobook format, right? That’s already here. It's nothing new. But I was wondering, is there something more that will come beyond audiobooks?


And I found the following, which is, you know, Variety and also a couple other news outlets in the past couple of weeks announced a partnership between Audible and Pottermore Publishing, which is the group that owns the Harry Potter series. And they are going to be producing a full cast audio recording of all seven books. And so that includes over a hundred actors, a score, immersive audio of real world sounds and just this whole universe, but in an audio format. It has nothing to do with the movies at all. It's based on the audiobooks. And it's going to be released starting in late 2025.


And, you know, the original audiobooks have been around for a long time. They're not going to go anywhere. The written word isn't going to go anywhere. But both Audible and Pottermore Publishing thought, you know, there's so much demand for this content. How about they use this as a way to experiment with new mediums for storytelling? And so I thought it would be an interesting evolution from audiobooks into what they're calling immersive audio. And it's kind of what you were talking about, Lana, which is this idea of mixed formats and what that could do.


And so to me, the immediate question was just thinking, oh, well, if we're moving into this kind of format, who, who will kind of benefit from it? And it, it immediately made me think of high schoolers, because I was thinking of, you know, your assigned reading in high school. And right now there's a statistic that reading assignments, you know, kids in high school, they read about 15 to 19 minutes per day. And when you're assigned to reading, they usually go to like, you know, a short abbreviated site like Spark Notes and probably ChatGPT at this point, right, to just summarize what their reading is.


And so I thought maybe this is a format in the future that will really help younger people really engage with text in different ways. And so I found this article in Ed Week also that talked about how the teaching profession in English is starting to pay more attention to the evolution of all these different formats of books. And so they detailed this one teacher who was on the fence for a long time about introducing audiobooks, but he took Homer's Odyssey, which is just a challenge to get through for a high schooler and instead required an audiobook retelling of it in a very dramatized fashion. And the kids loved it.


And, you know, he said, this is something that's been controversial for them for a while. Like it's kind of considered cheating for students to do that instead of reading. But now he's considering this is like one of many tools to engage students in reading. And so, Lana, I could see what you were mentioning for this anthology. Like you can have a mix of required text reading, have people listen to the audio retelling of it. You can also have, for those with dramatic flair, actual performative aspect in class, right? And so it becomes really more dynamic over time.


And so, you know, the more, the different mediums that exist for storytelling, I think will hopefully make all of these ways more accessible and engaging for people who in particular have had issues with reading text. Or, you know, just are more visual learners or something like that or auditory learners. Like this can help them over time. So that was my signal and I was really excited about it.


[12:53]


Raakhee: Sue, from the little that I saw when I was reading online, it looks like audiobooks are just gaining more and more popularity. It looks like they're going to become more popular in a bigger form and a bigger medium for books. So that's so interesting. Yeah, to know that. So wow, okay. 


So I think we all, we're all focused on medium, format. And yeah, I think mine was definitely similar in a similar vein. So I think there's interesting stuff coming here, but I'll share mine.


And, yeah, it was around a new word that I learned in essence, which was the word thunk. And thunk is usually like the heavy sound -- like “thunk,” right? That's the only way we've kind of learned about in English. In software, it has a different meaning. It's like something that's used to kind of put a calculation into another sort of routine or a subroutine. So you have some sort of action or motion that's going to happen, but you insert another calculation into that, right? It could even be sort of an if-then or something like that, right?


Anyways, the point is those are the two uses of the words except now certain people in this industry are using the term “thunk” to talk about basically how this format of books is going to change. And instead of books being available in this one sort of condensed form, that there'll be these nuggets of information. And so imagine, right? You go onto a website and you have sort of you pull up text and you're reading text and you're reading a chapter and you're reading one, two. But on the side of it, there's also a chatbox and you can chat with this little AI checkbox and you stop. You're reading this text and you stop and you say, oh, okay, there's a reference to World War I here and this particular leader. And then you ask, ChatGPT, whatever it is, whatever technology there is. And you say, okay, cool. Like, who was this leader? Tell me more. What did they look like? And that'll interact with you and will draw up, right? That image of this person or whatever, the visuals.


It can also test your knowledge, right? So somewhere else, there might be a quiz. There might be something else. And sort of interacting with reading, but in a sort of dynamic, very layered way, where you're playing across all these things, right? You still go through the book. You go through it as you like, chapter to chapter. But the way you interact with the knowledge and the learning and the information, whether it's audio, you're like, okay, I'm zoning out here. Like, this is really, this part's heavy. So I really enjoyed reading earlier, but now when I listen to the audio, so you go to the audio, et cetera.


And so they’re visioning these sort of nuggets of information, right? And that's how we'll consume and read as well. And calling it “thunk.” I think it's very early days. I don't know if that word is going to stick. I've just seen reference from one or two people. So let's see. That's an interesting term. 


I mean, it's hard to envision entirely, but I think it's going to be exciting to see what these sorts of platforms are. They're going to emerge, right? Showing the sort of information and these sorts of nuggets of things coming together and reading.


But, and I think it speaks really powerfully, Lana, to like what you mentioned about the collab.

Because I can imagine people collaborating in that sort of way as well. Like, maybe somebody really loves doing the audio and the voiceover for stories, and they'll be doing the audio bit. But they also invested maybe in parts of the story, and they want to also contribute, but maybe just small parts. Like, oh, I want to just give you this. And there's somebody who's deeply invested in the writing. And then there's somebody else who's like a consultant who's like, listen, I can come and develop the coolest little quiz or something, or something that your readers can interplay with.


And imagine all of that on one screen. And right now I can picture that on a computer, but that'll be on your tablet. That'll be on your phone, right? It'll be on your phones quickly enough. So, yeah, that was what I had.


[16:53]


Lana: Yeah, I think another signal that I was thinking about doing today, but it's actually kind of a hybrid of both yours and Sue's about Harry Potter is a story in the New York Times about an AI-powered app that's kind of doing what you're saying. It's like having an AI companion to classic novels, but they're picking famous, other famous writers, like contemporary authors, lend their expertise about it. So like, for example, the author Margaret Atwood is doing A Tale of Two Cities.


And so she's kind of, I guess, preparing the answers to what they think are going to be the questions in the chat. So like, they're preparing for, anticipating what the readers are going to ask. So it's as if you're reading A Tale of Two Cities with Margaret Atwood as kind of your guide. And so I think that really is exactly what you're... So they're using kind of this celebrity draw to the classics and the novelty of this technology.


But yeah, I think that to me was what I was thinking of when I was thinking about both of what you were saying and just kind of other trends that are happening.


Sue: It reminded me, actually. So this week, my goddaughter is a talented and aspiring writer. And she invited me to a reading of one of the things that she was writing. And I did not know that she was such a performer. It wasn't just the way I've heard audiobooks. It was like a spoken word performance. That's what it felt like. And as you were talking, Raakhee, it made me hope for a day when I could read a book and have... You could have like the Apple Vision Pro or some kind of headset on when you're reading this and you could see a hologram of my goddaughter back when she was this age reading from the book that she had originally written. And there are so many different combinations of what that can look like to further engage.


[19:14]


Raakhee: Sue, what you were saying made me think about, though, and we've spoken about this in so many episodes, is we're going to see more interesting things with AI in terms of what we can do with content and what we can see online, how we interact. But I think that creates in us that hunger for the connection on the opposite spectrum, right? Like we spoke about the humans-only happy hour and those things. And I feel like we'll actually get people who will be like, no, we're doing a campfire storytelling because we'll miss those things so much, right? That we'll still see, but we're going to get together as actual people with our faces in front of each other. And we're going to tell stories. I don't, you know, if that's not going to go away, I think that hunger will create new forms of that coming about. What do you think?


Lana: Yeah, I guess this made me think about, you know, the next iteration of the book club, like what you were saying, right? If we're talking about the next iteration of books, and then what's the, what does it look like to have a lot of the communal aspect of enjoying discussing a book together, right? And then like what that can look like. And so I don't think that's going to go away. 


Sue: There's so many other ripple effects here, right? So book clubs, what about libraries? What's their responsibility with all of these new formats? How are they going to get that out into the world? And what does, what does renting a book for a library look like in the future? Is it kind of this like whole box set where you ask for the Odyssey, you get the text, you get the audio, you know, you get all these things.


I know personally, when I've heard spoken word in different formats, it's made a book come to life just in a different way. And for me, for like the stories I really love, I'm excited to see how many different ways I can experience it. So that's what I'm excited about.


Raakhee: Yeah, thank you both. And I think, yeah, beautifully said. I think it's almost that, you know, the note we started on is kind of the note we’re ending on is, I think there's going to be so much change. And yet fundamentally, books will always stay with books. It's always going to be about the power of those words, right? No matter what format we see them on and how they come across. And I think, yeah, that's, it's so much a part of being human.


So books are going to change a lot and fundamentally stay the same. So I think, yeah, we'll wrap with that. But very excited to hear what your thoughts are. Are you testing or trying different forms?


Have you seen something exciting in the book world?

Please do share with us and you can share pictures and videos or whatever you have. We love seeing that stuff. So send it over to us, you know, horizonshiftlab.com is where you want to go. And yeah, to share this with us, we'd love to hear from you. And until next time, bye for now.


[22:15]

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