Preserving Future Predictions

What reading device will my great-grandchildren be using in a hundred years? Will they still read books — you know, the ink on paper kind? Maybe a Kindle 23.5? Probably not. Whatever it will be hasn’t been invented yet.

But what of the documents, books, letters, family histories — to say nothing of photos — that exist solely in digital form on zip drives, thumb drives, hard drives. servers and such? Will those survive? Who will “move them forward” to each new generation of storage and viewing devices? How many of you have manuscripts, journals, stories and important documents saved to 5.25, and 3.5 inch “floppies” or residing on old computers that won’t boot up any more?

Last week, the Clark County commissioners presented their chosen memorabilia to be placed in a time capsule to be unearthed 100 years from now in 2109 –- the county’s bicentennial. The collection includes newspaper clippings, photos, DVDs, and books. I was honored that two of our Stephens Press titles have thus been preserved as future relics: Education in the Neon Shadow: The First 50 Years of the Clark County School District and Springs in the Desert: A Kid’s History of Las Vegas.

I was pleased, too, that this preservation for future generations is in book form. When the time capsule is opened, they’ll be able to immediately turn the pages and read the text. Meanwhile, the DVDs that were included may leave historians a bit befuddled as they figure out how to view them — maybe the descendents still starring on the reality TV show Pawn Stars will have a working DVD player somewhere in a back room.

For our books, we won’t be concerned. If time has proven anything it is that words on paper have endured for thousands of years. Reporters at the time capsule event were told that today’s news stories regarding the capsule would be included. As such LVRJ reporter, Scott Wyland, sent in his article this humorous message to future readers: “If it’s 2019 and you’re reading this, kudos if Lake Mead hasn’t dried up, the Strip is powered by the earth’s magnetic waves and you’ve found a way to travel between here and LA in 20 minutes. And oh, this is what a newspaper used to look like.”

In 2005, when we published Springs in the Desert, we invited the children of Clark County to predict the future. I’ll leave you with a few optimistic and perhaps telling predictions. And to Chris, Mitch, MacKenzie, Gaby, Serretta, Matteo, Mai Lyn, Kristen, Alyssa, Daniel, James, Michael, Trevor, Karina, Anthony, Samatha, Kenyada, Jose, Tara, Jesse, James, and Cass — your words, too, have been preserved for the future.

“Famous scientists will make a collar that can fit any animal. The collar has a big knob on it that you can spin, and then the animal can speak human languages.” — Jesse

“There will be no business in the future. Scientists will come up with gadgets that can give you everything you want, so there will be no need to spend all your time at work getting paid so little.”

– MacKenzie

“Las Vegas will become the capital of the United States, since it will be the center of attention for the world. The President will even want to move the White House to Las Vegas.”

– Jose

“To save more space and to attract more tourists, there will be hotels that float in the sky. There will also be a few lower hotels for people who are afraid of heights.”

– Alyssa

“Everyone will have a robot that goes to school for them while you stay home. Then, when school is over, it transports everything it learned into your brain.”

– Daniel

Note: Springs in the Desert (and the accompanying activities guide) can be found at www.kidshistoryoflasvegas.com and Education in the Neon Shadow is at www.educationintheneonshadow.com.

How to Format a Book Manuscript

They come at us in all shapes, sizes, colors, and even smells (we don’t much care for the cigarette and kitty scents).

They shouldn’t.

The publishing industry has standards for manuscript submissions, and if you follow them, you’ll look like a pro from first glance. Nothing screams amateur like incorrectly prepared manuscripts.

The Rules:

1. One inch margins all around (top, bottom, sides).

2. Twelve point Times New Roman or Courier.

3. Double spaced (using the paragraph toolbar to set — never hit <enter> twice to achieve double spacing).

4. Entire manuscript in one document with page numbers turned on. These page numbers are for organization of the manuscript and have no bearing on final page numbers in book.

5. ONE space after sentence periods. I know, I know, you were taught two in high school typing. Unlearn it. Or use search>replace to get rid of them when your manuscript is completed.

6. Insert a page break at the end of every chapter.

7. Indent paragraphs using one tab or your computer’s auto indent feature. NEVER indent using the space bar. Add two extra hard returns <enter> for text breaks.

8. Title page with word count on upper right. Title in center. Your contact information at botton.

9. No underlining. Anything. Ever.

10. Use italics when called for (publication titles, minimally for emphasis, first use of foreign word not in today’s lexicon — taco is not a foreign word in this context).

11. No hyphenation, no justification, no fiddling with leading or other typographic elements. Keep it simple!

12. Use two hyphens for em dashs. Never one, never three, only two. Our layout programs will convert two hyphens to a proper dash. Space on either side, please.

13. Chapter titles may be centered and bold at top of each new chapter page.

14. Include a table of contents for non-fiction. You don’t have to include the actual page numbers — we just want to see the book’s organization at a glance.

15. Dedication and acknowledgments aren’t needed until you have a publishing contract.

16. Most important of all? Do not try to make it look like a finished book. Resist all temptation to “show us” what you think it should look like and “do the work for us”.

All agents and publishers have submission guidelines on their websites. However, these simple rules will be what’s used by 95% of them. You can find ours http://stephenspress.com/submissions.html.

It’s Foreword, NOT Forward

Spell it right!

The number of manuscripts I’ve seen — and even printed books — with this common misspelling is staggering.

Sometimes they’re long. Sometimes they’re short. But they’re always written by someone other than the author — preferably that someone is SOMEONE.

Someone well-known. Foreword writers can be an expert or authority in field that is the subject of the book or a celebrity who enjoys a relationship with the author or a passion for the book’s topic or purpose.

First Lady of Nevada, Dawn Gibbons, wrote a gracious foreword for 100 Years in the Nevada Governor’s Mansion. Siegfried and Roy were naturals to ask to pen a foreword for our book on the history of the legendary Stardust. Former governor Kenny Guinn was honored to write a foreword for civil rights activist Bob Bailey’s memoir and we tapped former Governor Mike Huckabee to write the foreword for Bayou Country about southeast Arkansas. Boxing champ George Foreman contributed the foreword for Fight Town. One of my personal favorites was visiting composer John Williams at his Los Angeles film studio bungalow to discuss his foreword for More Than a Parade, our pictorial history of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid provided the foreword for Silent Heroes of the Cold War. I would say that these and other luminaries have unfailingly been honored to be asked and very helpful and interested in the process.

Give some thought to who you know, or who you know who might know the person you wish to approach. If you have a noble cause or a subject close to their hearts, many famous folks will listen to your pitch to write a foreword. Don’t be shy — it can’t hurt to ask.

Once an agreement has been reached to provide a foreword, you should offer to send your manuscript for their review. At this point, you can gingerly feel out your SOMEONE as to their intention to write the foreword themselves, or if they prefer to have the author or editor write for their review and approval. Yes, that happens.

Can your SOMEONE be NO ONE? Sure. While your publisher is looking for any and all advantages to help sell your book — and the credibility or star power from a famous expert or celebrity may help — forewords can be written by anyone. A foreword’s purpose is to give the reader some perspective on the subject and/or the author before they delve into the text. Nor do all books require a foreword.

But if you have one, spell it right!

The Non-Case of the Stolen Manuscript

“How do I protect my work?” is a question that comes up at every conference and the writers groups where I speak. Having one’s manuscript stolen seems to be a huge concern among new writers. Many would-be authors, upon having an editor or agent ask for a manuscript to be sent to them, go into spasms of anxiety that their 100,000 hard-won words will be swiped and sold to a publisher under someone else’s name.

Your work will not be stolen. Honest. When have you ever heard of a reported instance that this actually happened?

If you are submitting a wonderful manuscript, full of sales potential, editors and agents are going to want to make money by getting it published. Believe me, it would dreadfully complicate their business model to go to the trouble of stealing your work and pretending someone else wrote it, than to just publish your work in the first place.

If your book isn’t so wonderful, well, that’s a different problem than worrying someone will steal it.

You’ll want to submit to reputable publishing houses and literary agencies, of course. Even the disreputable ones are not likely to steal your work, but they may inudate you with offers for “self-publishing” packages or writing contests. Preditors and Editors is an excellent online resource to check up on the reputation of agents and publishers.

No matter how uniquely you’ve told your story, there are only so many truly original ideas in the world, and it IS possible that another author has written a similar story. This is a literary coincidence, not story-swiping.

The second question I’m asked is “Should I register the copyright?” and the answer is no. Registration provides no additional copyright protection. It does give you legal standing to sue for infringement, but this isn’t something you need to worry about at the submission stage. Someday, when you’ve got a publishing deal, your publisher will register the copyright for you.

In the United States, copyright is a form of legal protection granted to authors of ‘original works’ and this includes both published and unpublished works. Your copyright protection exists from the time you create it (unless you created it for an employer, which is called “work for hire”). A common misperception among authors is that they should register their work with the U.S. Copyright Office, or have it “published” in some form to protect it.

“No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright.” according to the US Copyright Office. Putting a copyright notice or the (c) symbol all over your manuscript, or proudly declaring it has been registered in your query letter, is the best way to announce your inexperience at the publishing game. It just looks amateurish. If it makes you feel reassured, go ahead and add “Copyright 2009 + your name” at the bottom of your work, but make it very subtle.

The United States Copyright Office has an excellent website for further information.

Writing What You Know

What happens when a parent’s perfectly normal day turns into every parent’s worst nightmare?

For the Smith family, life was good. John, most known to R-J readers as Nevada’s best-read newspaper columnist, and wife Tricia, were the parents of a beautiful little girl, Amelia, then eight-years-old.

That perfect and perfectly normal life was shattered with the terrifying diagnosis of a brain tumor. Little Amelia was whisked to specialists in Phoenix on an medical flight for life-saving emergency surgery. Then the worst-day-in-their-life got worse yet with the news the tumor was cancerous. The next days, months, years were dizzying rounds of doctors and hospitals, chemotherapy and radiation, recoveries and replapses.

As the Smith family went through this terrible ordeal, John pondered the old adage — write what you know. Should he write about Amelia’s health crisis? In the ensuing five years, John did write about his brave and stalwart daughter as she endured the relentless pain and suffering that comes with modern medical treatments for cancer.

AMELIA’S LONG JOURNEY will debut at the Vegas Valley Book Festival. John will present the keynote address, “The Challenge of Writing What You Know” this Saturday at the Flamingo branch of the Clark County Library. John and Amelia will sign books together.

Amelia’s favorite childhood cancer charities will benefit from sales of the book. They include:

• Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada
• Make-A-Wish Foundation
• Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation
• St. Baldrick’s Foundation

The book acknowldeges the crucial supportive role these charities provide to the families of children with cancer.

When: Saturday, November 7, 7:00 PM
Where: Clark County Library Theater, 1401 E. Flamingo
Web: www.ameliaslongjourney.com

 

Vu Tran, RESTLESS CITY Author, Wins 2009 Whiting Award

Vu Tran, the seventh author in our Restless City serial novel, has won a 2009 Whiting Award. With the literary prestige comes a check for a cool $50,000. The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation named ten recipients of the 2009 Whiting Writers’ Awards. The awards have been given annually since 1985 to writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career. The short stories of Vu Tran have appeared in such journals as the Harvard Review, Southern Review, Glimmer Train, and the Antioch Review and have been selected for inclusion in the 2007 O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Mystery Stories 2009, The Best of Fence: The First Nine Years, and Las Vegas Noir. Born in Viet Nam and a refugee at the age of five, he and his family were relocated to Oklahoma where he grew up and earned a BA and MA from the University of Tulsa. Mr. Tran also has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a PhD as a Glenn Schaeffer Fellow at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He writes often of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans and of the immigration experience. Mr. Tran’s first novel is forthcoming from W.W. Norton. He currently teaches at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and also works as a free-lance editor.

That Great Sucking Sound Inspires Poet

Where do you find your best inspiration? That in-the-groove place where the ideas just flow and you’re on the creative high ground? Our Stephens Press book designer Sue Campbell may have the cleanest floors in the state of Colorado — as doing the mundane allows her to enter that altered state where thoughts flow and swirl and bump and collide into the new and wonderful. Check it out in the latest Shine journal.  Sue’s poetry has been published for two months running.

Serial Novel Published in the Restless City

 

Writing is a solitary endeavor, and save for some tweaking by an editor, the storyline and characters are the author’s own. The author is in charge of what happens when, what each character does, says, and even looks like. So how did seven of the region’s best authors, all tremendously accomplished in their own right, deal with having to share?

John L. Smith said, “In school I often got into trouble for failing to work well with others, so I wasn’t optimistic that I could cooperate on a story with six  writers. Collaborating on a writing project was pretty new for me. But it was intriguing to participate in a collective creative writing project. And I think the story works.”

RESTLESS CITY will debut at this year’s Vegas Valley Book Festival. A signature project of the festival organizers, editor Geoff Schumacher invited seven of the area’s best-known authors to each write a sequential chapter in a yet-untitled book. The only provisions were it had to be set in Las Vegas, be fiction, and each chapter was limited to 3,000 to 4,000 words. Oh, and they’d have a short couple of weeks to write their chapter.

H. Lee Barnes. John Irsfeld, Brian Rouff, Leah Bailly, John L. Smith, Constance Ford and Vu Tran were game for this admittedly experimental project. Barnes set a high standard with the first chapter, and introduced his colleagues to a story we’ve come to label Vegas Noir. By the time John Irsfeld added his contribution, the title RESTLESS CITY was coined by editor Geoff Schumacher.

The concept of a serial novel was recently a bestseller in THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT by thriller-master Jeffery Deaver and a team of likewise bestselling mystery and suspense writers. I read THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT with great curiousity, wondering if I could sense the different voices from chapter to chapter. Yes, I could.

As I can in RESTLESS CITY. But not in a negative way. It is more of an undercurrent that something has shifted as the story moves on. Too, there was a greater anticipation as to where the story would go next as each new author took the reins.

According to author Brian Rouff, RESTLESS CITY required him to “step up my game”. Rouff said “Chapter three was a great opportunity because I got to delve into back story. John Irsfeld gave me a lot to work with. In turn, I finished my chapter with an old-fashioned cliffhanger for the next author. I hope the readers had as much fun as I did.”

THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT was such a success, that Deaver and his colleagues have produced THE COPPER BRACELET. Deaver was fascinted to “see how a group of authors with vastly varied writing styles and approaches to creativity produced such a cohesive thriller with a relentlessly fast-paced narrative”.

Vu Tran, the final chapter author said, “Writing the last chapter and trying to tie up everyone else’s plot and character threads was in turns a unique, infuriating, and fun experience. Complementing and resolving other people’s ideas was even more difficult than I thought it would be, but I ultimately found it very satisfying and educational.”

RESTLESS CITY is available at www.RestlessCity.com and will be available on Amazon and in local bookstores shortly. Both a print and eBook formats are being published. The book will debut at the Vegas Valley Book Festival with a reading by final author Vu Tran on Saturday, November 7 at 4:00 PM at the Historic Fifth Street School (on Fourth Street). Authors will be available to sign books.

Sixth Chapter Posted

Restless City, the serial novel from CityLife Books and the Vegas Valley Book Festival, has reached the sixth chapter. Constance Ford  moves the story forward, while the final seventh chapter will be revealed by a reading from author Vu Tran at the festival.

With the final “reveal” on November 7th, the completed book will be available in print as a trade paper edition and an e-book edition.

For now, our friends who have been following along can catch chapter six hanging out with the dudes from CityLife at here. Enjoy!

WriMos to NaNo in November

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH (otherwise known as NaNoWriMo) FEATURES  THE LARGEST WRITING CONTEST IN THE WORLD

There are some who say writing a novel takes awesome talent, strong language skills, academic training, and years of dedication.

Not true.

All it really takes is a deadline – a very, very tight deadline – and maybe a whole lot of coffee.

Welcome to National Novel Writing Month: a nonprofit literary crusade that encourages aspiring novelists all over the world to write a 50,000-word novel in a month. At midnight on November 1, over 150,000 writers from some 90 countries – poised over laptops and pads of paper, fingers itching and minds racing with plots and characters – will begin a furious adventure in fiction. By 11:59 PM on November 30, tens of thousands of them will be novelists.

NaNoWriMo is the largest writing contest in the world. In 2008, over 120,000 people took part in the free challenge. And while the event stresses fun and creative exploration over publication, more than thirty NaNoWriMo novelists have had their NaNo-novels published, including Sarah Gruen, whose New York Times #1 Best Seller, Water for Elephants began as a NaNoWriMo novel.

Around 18% of NaNoWriMo participants “win” every year by writing 50,000 words and validating their novels on the organization’s website before midnight on November 30. There are no judges, and winners receive no prizes. In fact, no one at NaNoWriMo ever reads the manuscripts submitted. They tabulate the word counts and delete them.

So if not for fame or fortune, why do people do it?

“The 50,000-word challenge has a wonderful way of opening up your imagination and unleashing creative potential like nothing else,” says NaNoWriMo founder and program director Chris Baty. “When you write for quantity instead of quality, you end up getting both.”

Henderson author Gregory Kompes says you need to write about 1,700 words a day to complete NaNoWriMo so it’s an excellent way to acquire a daily writing habit. “In addition to building our writing muscles, NaNoWriMo also helps those writers who sometimes get trapped over editing their first draft and never finishing the core of the story. Many writing teachers believe the best way to write a new story is to get the whole first draft down on the page before moving on to editing and revision,” Kompes said.

The NaNoWriMo web sites advises; “Do not edit as you go. Editing is for December. Think of November as an experiment in pure output. Even if it’s hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn’t. Every book you’ve ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you”.

Most novels are longer than 50,000 words (more typically 75,000 to 100,000 words) but a 50,000 word draft is a good start for any novelist.

Writers can also find support via a Las Vegas forum and meet-ups for other “Wrimos” as participants have come to be known. Upon sign-up, writers indicate their Home Region and some competition exists for a cummulative word count total between different regions.

Local writer Teresa Watts says “In the Las Vegas Region we have 98 participants so far — it will get bigger by October 31. Stats indicate 26% are new to NaNo. A good number of participants are high school students!” Watts will “NaNo” the rough draft for her second book this November.

A Las Vegas NaNo success story is Laura Alton. Her book Las Vegas Chew Toy was a 2006 NaNoWriMo winner and was recently published by Cyberwizard Productions in Texas. “Doing NaNo made me finish a book,” Alton said. “I had started several novels before but this was the first one that was finished. It is hard to keep up the pace but it forces you to keep producing words”.

Veteran book designer Sue Campbell is offering an additional incentive for NaNo writers — a cover design contest. Campbell, who has designed many award-winning books for Stephens Press and other publishers around the country, will accept one hundred entries from NaNo “winners” (writers who complete the 50,000 word challenge) and select three for which she’ll professionally design a full color book cover, gratis. Details for the contest are at http://www.suecampbellgraphicdesign.com/.

For more information about National Novel Writing Month visit www.NaNoWriMo.org.

“Voices” Booksigning at Borders Town Square

Excerpted from Living Las Vegas

by Photo Diva Linda Evans

I also went to Borders at Town Square on Saturday afternoon to meet R.G.Ryan, co-author of Danny Gans’ autobiography, “The Voices In My Head”, whom I met and have talked to on Twitter. We had a lovely conversation along with Russ and Rho Gerner about Gans’ personal and professional life and philanthropic work. I made mention that I had never had the chance to see Gans perform to which Russ, an artist who created custom cars for Gans’ collection, replied “I have something in the car for you.” He brought in and handed me a DVD of Danny Gans show. So with an autographed copy of the book and the DVD in hand I went home . . . Read More

(Posted with permission)

 

Here a Tweet, There a Tweet

We tweet — do you tweet? Okay, I’ll be the first to admit my skepticism over the Twitter phenomenon. But, we gave it a try, and the more I use it, the more I see the applications. Tweets (as Twitter messages are called) are very short, with a maximum of 140 characters (that’s characters, not words). Some folks seem to use Twitter as their main communication tool, but most companies and individuals use it to make quick announcements or comments, often with a link for more information. Yes, a great number of companies are using Twitter now, especially to promote events. Celebs use Twitter to build a connection with their fans. Authors can tweet to build followers, update progress on book projects, book tours, and announce appearances. The twitterers amongst you can follow us @carolynhayesuber and @stephenspress.

Technology Changes Book Manufacturing

Q: I’m particularly interested in how the digital revolution and easily available print-on-demand services are affecting the book world.—Megan, Las Vegas

A: That’s a big subject, Megan! The digital age has certainly impacted the book industry, by enabling short runs of bound books. The downside is that unit costs of digitally printed books in small quantities are typically too high to allow for wholesale distribution and market competitiveness. If you want 25 copies of your book to share with family, or to print 100 at a time for sell at your speaking gigs, this isn’t a problem.

Most traditional publishers (including Stephens Press) use POD (print-on-demand) to print ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) which are printed in small quantities and sent to book reviewers ahead of publication of the printed book. This helps us acquire those “blurbs” (testimonials) on the back of the book jacket before going to press. In some instances, we may use POD in place of offset printing to test the interest in a book before committing to a larger quantity, or to keep a small number of copies in inventory in place of declaring a title out of print.

The high unit cost, coupled with the typical low quality of books published by POD service providers, has led bookstore chains to routinely decline to shelve these books in their stores. Their issues:

Low Quality — Digital printing (which is akin to photocopying) isn’t the quality of ink-on-paper printing (especially for photos), POD books are known for poor editing and design as well. Self-publishers must arrange for their own editing and book design. Too often they either don’t recognize the need or get less than stellar help.

Non-returnability — Throughout the book retail environment, bookstores purchase at wholesale on essentially a consignment basis and the inventory is completely returnable for full credit. Throughout the POD publishing services industry, the books they distribute on behalf of their author-clients are not returnable. This impasse means virtually no self-published books are stocked by book retailers (although they can be special ordered).

Unrealistic Pricing — Many POD providers set the retail price on behalf of the authors at prices that make them unsalable in a competitive market. Or if the author can set their own prices, that high unit cost makes it impossible for them to offer the typical 50-65% discount required of distributors and wholesalers and cover their expenses, much less make a profit.

Digital manufacturing has changed book publishing — and like most technological advancements — both for better and worse. I can’t say it has leveled the playing field, but it has made the prospect of becoming published more accessible for all writers.

I’ll cover other digital advances such as audio and e-books in future posts. Want to know more about book publishing? Email your questions to cuber@stephenspress.com or leave a comment below.

Double Down Makes Esquire

P Moss, proprietor of the insane and insanely popular  Double Down Saloons (Las Vegas and New York City) is one of our newest authors. We’ll be publishing Blue Vegas, his darkly Vegasesque story collection  in early 2010. The Double Down was just named was of the best bars in America by Esquire. A Sin City fixture himself, Moss undoubtedly has enjoyed a colorful cast of characters at the Double Down to serve as fodder for the fictional characters he creates. A CityLife Books title, Blue Vegas will debut in February. Read Scott Dickensheets review here. Congrats, Moss!

Crowd-Sourced Story to Launch on Twitter

Authors have been collaborating for years. Close to home, seven local authors have been writing a serial novel as a signature project of the Vegas Valley Book Festival. RestlessCity chapters have been released one-by-one by CityLife in the past two months, with the final chapter to debut at the Festival in early November.

Now the immensely popular fantasy writer Neil Gaiman is taking the concept to the masses. Starting tomorrow, October 13, at Noon EST, Gaiman (known as @Neilhimself) will launch a special round-robin interactive storytelling experience. He’ll tweet the first line of the story and then the rest is up to the crowd.

You can read the opening line of the story tweeted by Neil (or catch up with it in progress by visiting BBC Audiobooks America. Follow instructions on the site if you want to make your own contribution to the story which must be 140 characters or less.

When roughly 1,000 contributions (Tweets) are logged, they will be edited and compiled into a script which will be recorded as an audiobook. The final audiobook will be downloadable free on the BBC site and also available as a digital download at iTunes and other audiobook retailers. There are no plans to release a print edition.

Michele Lee Cobb, marketing director for BBC Audiobooks America, said the project is “a fantastic way to get more people excited and actively engaging with audiobooks.” Cobb said BBC was inspired to initiate the project following Britain’s Royal Opera House successful creation of a fan-twittered opera last month. “There’s a misconception still that audiobooks are only for a small, elite niche of book lovers and we want to explode that myth and tap into the possibilities of digital storytelling in a whole new way,” Cobb said.

Neil Gaiman is the author of the novels The Graveyard Book (New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2008 Audie Award for Best Audiobook of the Year), Coraline, Neverwhere, Stardust, Anansi Boys, the Hugo-and Nebula-winning American Gods, the Sandman series of graphic novels, and several collections of short fiction. Visit his blog at www.neilgaiman.com.