We Told Stories

A year ago to the day we launched We Tell Stories, an experiment in digital storytelling developed with ARG designers Six to Start. Over the course of six weeks, six writers told six stories based on six classics - but unlike their (and our) usual publishing output these stories were told online, using digital tools to create what we hoped would be engaging, fresh and radically different narrative experiences. 

Charles Cumming, for example, told his story entirely on Google Maps - readers can follow his character around the map as he attempts to make sense of the bizarre events that unfold. Nicci French (bravely) wrote their story live allowing the audience to see their tale appear on screens around the world, word by word. And Mohsin Hamid created an elegiac and fresh digital version of a choose-your-own-adventure story, readers creating their own path through his magical narrative. Sitting behind the six pieces was a secret seventh story which asked readers to solve a series of puzzles hidden online and in 'the real world' to stand a chance of winning prizes which included a complete set of Penguin Classics.

We got a lot out of the experience of producing this project. We got to work with and meet some very talented people. We learned that our authors enjoy taking on a challenge. Nearly a quarter of a million people have spent over 9000 hours reading the site and we received a ton of nice publicity, most of it very positive, and perhaps along the way we even sold an extra book or two ;-) And this Sunday, in Austin Texas, we were thrilled to receive the award for Experimentation and, astonishingly, the Best of Show award at this year's South by Southwest Interactive Festival Web Awards.

Best of all, perhaps, we learnt that it is possible for old school publishers to get out there and play with the cool kids without having our glasses stolen and stamped on. These are challenging times for traditional media companies - as Penguin author Clay Shirky writes; 

'the core problem publishing solves — the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public — has stopped being a problem.'

(note: technically Prof. Shirky was talking about the newspaper business, but the same can surely be said of book publishing). People are discovering new ways of telling stories, sharing stories and talking about stories and if we want to thrive through this paradigm shift we've got to master these techniques ourselves and perhaps invent a few of our own.

We've already taken some of the learnings from We Tell Stories and applied them across our marketing and in the next few months we'll be launching a couple of projects which again push the boundaries in some new ways. I can't tell you much more about these right now, except to say that next time around we're looking forward to reading some stories that other people make. And no, we're not talking about another wikinovel...

Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher

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Comments

[John Dodds]

Having been in SXSW, I have touched the award itself and shaken various hands. All thoroughly deserved, but it was depressing only a few hours earlier to sit in on Clay's panel here and note how representatives of the US publishing industry including Penguin seemingly had no clue about possibilities or worse still that people like you were actually innovating.

I may be wrong but when they cite an upcoming e-book as the most exciting innovation, you do begin to wonder. They got a very hard ride from a well-informed audience.

[Mckay]

It's really great to be using the internet as a way to creatively and effectively tell stories.
Love the whole google map idea- very unique!
I commend the initiative ;-)
Mckay