Back in my days as a TV graphic artist I used to go to the Broadcast Designers Assoc. convention. This was an annual gathering of all the people who make graphics and animation for TV stations and shows around the world. MTV was usually a big sponsor of the event. One of the years I attended there was a panel discussion and one of the art directors from MTV was on the panel. They were talking about creativity and this guy actually said “You know, why does a book have to look like a book?” I shared a look of disbelief with the people sitting next to me. My immediate reaction and the response I got from other people I talked to was that there are certain things that make up a book. If you take them away, or if you add a bunch of other stuff that’s unrelated, then the end product becomes something different.

I was reminded of this experience because right now ebooks are essentially the same as paper books. The nature of books is not changing. Ebooks are changing the delivery system, the distribution model for books, but not the books themselves. We have ereaders even going to great lengths to replicate the visual experience of turning a page. There are still obvious physical differences: paper vs. plastic; portability; the whole tactile experience. But the way we process the printed word is essentially unchanged.

There are people wanting to make changes to that. I read articles on the web about publishers developing “enhanced ebooks.” These things will apparently contain video and reading guides and animation and maybe even the kitchen sink. Is it still a book at that point? Part of me thinks that we are dealing with a new form of media here and we should be doing things differently. The other part of me recognizes that reading has worked perfectly well for thousands of years. Maybe it doesn’t need to be changed.

I am kind of curious how readers would respond to some enhancements. Maybe we can take a cue from movies. When movies went to the digital realm of DVDs we got deleted scenes and extras such as director commentary tracks. Should we be pursuing a literary equivalent? Could future ereader software have an option to enable author commentary. Then certain passages would be highlighted. When you tap these highlighted sections you get a pop-up window explaining how the character was originally two people that got condensed down into one during the second draft. Or maybe a note explains how the passage is an homage to a scene in The Maltese Falcon. Bells and whistles like video strike me as changing the nature of a book. But author notes and comments like I described would give the reader a peek under the hood of the book and how the author put it together. I tried something like this with my ebook. It is admittedly a little clunky since I had to use html anchors and endnotes, but when the technology gets there I think it could be something to look into.