This.

The screen was supposed to be limitless, a portal to another dimension…yet novels have merely traded one container for another.

And more importantly, THIS.

Huge amounts of attention are therefore being given to more or less superficial parts of the debate: pricing, formats, business models, the latest gadget. What are being sidelined are the most important aspects of literature’s digital future. Namely, how can we use digital devices to change the way we tell stories?

There’s a lot of ‘read between the lines’ in this article, and some very important issues to keep in mind if you are a developer of children’s e-books or a content creator. Enhancements are seen as a distraction to the reading experience, according to many of the parents surveyed. I am very excited about the future of the e-book space in kidlit, but have always been concerned about the line between a reading experience and gaming experience.

“Children’s books make money: a good amount of money,” stated Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner. “And the expectation on the part of publishers is that they won’t make that much money on the digital format. That’s a big stepping on the brakes for a lot of publishers.”

Over at the Good E Reader blog, Mercy Pilkington gives us a great overview of the panel discussion that opened the London Book Fair, stating that it “seemed to raise more questions than it answered.” The biggest hurdle? The cost, as in the price tag that comes along with the team of designers and programmers (and lets not forget the author, the creator of the actual content) needed to make an interactive book app.

Also of concern, and something I feel should be in the forefront of every children writer’s vision when utilizing new technologies, is how to keep the app from becoming a “robot nanny of science fiction stories.”

Still, the panel’s message to publishers was clear: “embrace digital or be left behind…”

This post from Digital Book World on user experience and digital reading underscores why I believe writers have much to learn from Narrative Designers and the gaming industry.

Publishers once again shoot themselves in the foot, and once again libraries are expressing their outrage saying that they refuse to become “collateral damage.” The Revson Foundation’s Julie Sandford offers this insight calling libraries “the last remaining civic public square”.

She (Sandford) and others reminded listeners that at a time of declining bricks-and-mortar stores, “libraries have real estate in every community. They can showcase and sell; they could become the new Barnes & Noble front window. Think about the utility of that.”

Maybe Penguin missed this post on Digital Book World the other day, Library Patrons Buy Books They Borrow, Study Says. Moves by publishers to restrict lending means the publishers “may be leaving money on the table.”

Another publishing platform announced today, this one for the iPad that will enable publishers to create “interactive content including guided tours, 3-D exhibits, interactive quizzes and  high -def video.” What will books look like by the end of 2012 I wonder?