Fourth Story Media

Calling Invisible I a “carefully crafted whodunit…which will compel readers to pick up the subsequent books,” Publishers Weekly gives the first book in The Amanda Project series a starred review:

invisible i Stella Lennon. HarperTeen, $16.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-174212-5

There are far too many scintillating, hand-clenching facets to this carefully crafted whodunit to count. Doors are purposefully left open and clues expertly planted (in the book’s text, artwork—even the endpapers—and on a dedicated Web site readers can explore), all of which will compel readers to pick up the subsequent books in the interactive Amanda Project series. (The books, all appearing under the name Stella Lennon, will be written by various authors, with Melissa Kantor [Girlfriend Material] kicking things off.) In the opener, three unlikely allies—narrator Callie, a member of the exclusive “I-Girls” clique; Nia, the “biggest freak in the ninth grade”–cum–hidden beauty; and Hal, an “uber-cool” artist—are brought together as they attempt to find 15-year-old Amanda, who has disappeared. The story unfolds at just the right pace to build curiosity, but not overwhelm with unanswered questions (Why did Amanda tell Callie, Nia and Hal three separate stories about her past? What’s up with the animal totems she gives them?). If there’s too much high school social politics at points, the catty backstabbing is unlikely to distract most readers from the mind-bending mystery shrouding Amanda’s whereabouts. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)

(via Publishers Weekly)

Seventeen Magazine has a great post up about The Amanda Project launch on their 17 Buzz blog and on their Facebook fan page today!

Do you ever wish you could write yourself into a mystery? Now you can transform yourself from reader to character in The Amanda Project, the first ever interactive book series and Web site!

Get to know Amanda, a mysterious girl who’s…gone missing! On the site, you can become a character, create a profile, uncover clues about her disappearace and comment on weekly stories, all with the chance to be included in the published book series! The things you contribute to the site will shape the outcome of what goes into the books, and there are tons of ways to interact, like sharing art, music, and writing.

The first book of eight, Invisible I by Stella Lennon and Melissa Kantor, will come out September 22^nd…

They posted the video as well. Check out the full post here!

HarperCollins UK recently announced their partnership with Fourth Story Media through an interactive online press release which has been picked up by The Bookseller and Pratham Books among others.

From Rachel Denwood, publishing director for HCUK’s children’s books, in The Bookseller:

“We’re delighted to join our US colleagues and 4th Story Media on this fantastic venture, the first of its kind for teenage girls. Each element is brilliantly conceived and delivered, but it was the quality of the books that got me so excited about this series. A pitch-perfect voice, a really strong and unusual story – plus cool, compelling characters: this is commercial teen fiction at its very best.”

For more information, view the interactive press release, and read the entire Bookseller article.

Spectrum has a great write-up of the Internet Week panel Beyond Facebook: How Today’s Students Will Use the Web of Tomorrow, which Fourth Story’s Ariel Aberg-Riger sat on last week.

The challenge, and perhaps opportunity, which Michael Staton noted, is to engage site visitors and charge for content. However, the key is not to sell content, but rather to sell a community’s trust.

While we have already seen this idea in practice with the likes of Yelp and Wikipedia, FSM took the concept to an entirely new level by using the Internet and new forms of technology to enable girls (ages 13 and up) to submit their own story lines to The Amanda Project. The premise behind The Amanda Project’s concept is to create online niche communities not only centered around a brand or product, but also around feelings and beliefs. The idea is for this to maximize user participation and partnership.

The article goes on to discuss The Amanda Project, and why one “former Hollywood film producer” thinks it “has the potential to be the most successful out of all the start-up ideas we heard from.”

Read the whole piece here!

UPDATE: Read more about the panel on Orient Lodge, PepsiCo’s Internet Week coverage, and Destination CRM.

UPDATE: Ariel has uploaded her slides from the panel, and findingDulcinea has uploaded videos of the panel.

Early reviews of Invisible I – the first book in The Amanda Project series – have started rolling in, and they’re great!

From the A Million Words blog:

By itself, this is a well-developed mystery with a really interesting protagonist. In addition to being the first of a new series, though, this is also an interactive project where readers can posit theories about Amanda, contribute music and art to the project website, and generally determine the trajectory of the series via the website www.theamandaproject.com. It’s a really cool idea and I’m excited to see what kind of response it gets. In any case, the book is great and I highly recommend it.

We’ll post more as they come in!

Publisher’s Weekly just released a long piece about Fourth Story Media, The Amanda Project, and multimedia children’s publishing.

From the piece:

Perched in a cozy top floor of a classic dot-com-like space—Fourth Story is in a former sail-making factory on a short cobblestoned street at New York City’s South Street Seaport—Holton exuded excitement. Having recently left corporate America—she stepped down as president of Scholastic Trade in 2007—she’s now focused on her current job, a deep multimedia YA series called The Amanda Project that HarperCollins is launching this fall. After last year’s launch of The 39 Clues, Scholastic’s elaborate book-series-wrapped-in-a-contest-connected-to-a-Web-site-with-play-along-trading-cards, the Amanda Project is primed to be one of the most ambitious multimedia children’s series to date.

Read the whole story here!

Publisher’s Weekly has a long article about everything from e-books to iPhone’s Stanza app to The Amanda Project in this week’s issue:

“We should worry less about the delivery system and more about inculcating sustained reading in kids,” says Michele Rubin, an agent at Writers House. “Books are something they should see as enjoyable.” No one is arguing. In fact, one scenario that publishers are exploring to raise the fun quotient is mixed media à la Scholastic’s The 39 Clues (the series combines traditional books with online gaming and card collecting).

Patrick Carman’s newly released ghost mystery, Skeleton Creek (Scholastic, Feb.), offers a book and dedicated Web site with videos, while The Amanda Project by Stella Lennon (HarperCollins, Sept. 2009) is even more ambitious. This mystery series, aimed at girls ages 12–14, brings together traditional print with Web games, social networking, blogs, music and merchandise.

Read the whole article here.

Following Lisa Holton’s recent presentation at the InCT 2008 conference in Utrecht, a number of international blogs and magazines have picked up the story of The Amanda Project and Fourth Story Media.

• Frank Watching has a long rundown of the Lisa’s entire InCT presentation (in Dutch)
• Beat Internacional is featuring The Amanda Project trailer (in Catalan)
• InCT Magazine has a lengthy article about Lisa & the creation of Fourth Story Media (in Dutch)

From PW; Lynn Andriani 6/18/2008:

When Lisa Holton left her post as president of Scholastic Trade Publishing and Book Fairs in early fall 2007, she had the unprecedented experience of having managed the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows under her belt. She had solid know-how about launching major children’s series, having originated and overseen development of The 39 Clues, Scholastic’s much buzzed-about book and Web-based venture, which launches this September. She also had a specific plan of what she wanted to do next in her career, and this week, she announced what that plan was: Fourth Story Media, a “studio” that integrates books and the Internet to develop children’s properties. Holton’s first book publishing partner will be one of her former employers: HarperCollins.

From the Happy Cog website:
After managing the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and originating and overseeing development of The 39 Clues, Lisa Holton left her post as president of Scholastic and launched a new business. Publishing under the HarperCollins flagship imprint, Fourth Story Media will produce stories that span multiple formats, including books, websites, games, DVDs, audio downloads and social networks. Its first series is The Amanda Project, an interactive, collaborative fictional mystery for girls 12 to 24, told across multiple media. The project will launch at the end of this year and grow throughout 2009. Happy Cog is delighted to be part of Fourth Story’s creative team.