Starting this Friday, March 12th at 10 AM central time, we’ll be hosting an interactive storytelling exquisite corpse-esque competition over at The Future of the Story. How it works:

Fantastic (if we do say so ourselves) panelists include:

• Lisa Holton – CEO + Founder, FSM
• Erin Kissane – Web Project + Community Manager, FSM / Blogger, Incisive.nu
• Mandy Brown – Creative Director, Etsy
• Paul Ford – Novelist / Blogger, FTrain.com / Editor, Harper’s

Hope to see you there!

Publishers Weekly asked a number of children’s publishers, scouts, and editors (including FSM’s Lisa Holton) what they’re expecting at this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair (March 23-26). Some soundbytes:

Natasha Ferrant, Literary Scout: “There’s a real buzz about YA literature, which is tremendously exciting. I’m hoping to see less of the paranormal stuff and more good, original writing. Much as I love them—I do, I do—I don’t want to read any more vampire books, probably EVER AGAIN. What I really want to find is simple and oh so elusive: a strong middle-grade series with great writing and an even better story.”

Rob McMenemy, Senior VP Egmont English Language & Central Europe: “The digital agenda will loom even larger this year, taking more airtime and even more space, but we are fast approaching the point where it won’t be a separate agenda at all nor just an interesting sideshow, but rather an integral part of the business of publishing and rights.”

Lisa Holton, CEO Fourth Story: “I am going mainly to hear what my international colleagues are thinking about their business—how they publish, who they are publishing, and how they think the landscape—digital and print—is changing.”

Klaus Humann, Publisher Carlsen Verlag, Germany: “Our job as publishers had always been and will always be to take risks, invest into new authors, encourage them to write their first books and get them published. We are not paid to follow trends. We are paid to create them.”

Read the full piece in PW.

What are the top 3 reasons The Amanda Project interactive model works for readers?

1. Most importantly, it’s an amazing, well-written story. We have fantastic, bestselling YA authors like Melissa Kantor and Laurie Stolarz working collaboratively to create a rich narrative core and to build Amanda’s world. It’s only with such a strong base that we are able to extend the story and invite our readers in to collaborate and interact as well. If they weren’t hooked in the first place, they wouldn’t care!
2. It’s a structured creative environment. We find that although the sky really is the limit in terms of what you can invent and who you can be on The Amanda Project, our readers and writers create most readily when we actually impose certain constraints. For example, every Friday we publish a new story on the site, and each week’s story ends with a call to action that asks a very specific question (e.g. Have you ever lied to make people like you? Is this Amanda’s purple ink?) which we find both lowers the barrier to entry for participation (aka the blank page effect), as well as creates a much more cohesive direction for the continuation of the story.
3. It’s universal. The Amanda Project deals with issues all teen girls (and anyone, really) can relate to – identity, friendship, difficult decisions, loyalties, secrets, the drama of high school life – so it’s easy to lose yourself in the character you create, and really immerse yourself in Amanda’s world.

The above video caught our eye when Aaron Brashear and Pablo Medina played it during their talk – Print Design Now – at TODA last night.

As Chris Anderson, Wired’s Editor-In-Chief says:

“We’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use all these visual tools at our disposal to tell these stories in a way that is efficient, that is multi-dimensional. But, we also think it’s an opportunity to reset the economics for the first time. People may value this experience so much that they pay for it.”

We recommend watching the whole thing (it’s not that long, and there is some sweet music), but at least check out the:

• Dual access navigation (sidescroll from page to page, downscroll to dig deeper into a story) – 1:50
• Interactive ads (check out the spinny car) – 1:35

It’s pretty hot.

The Amanda Project

We’ll continue adding links to the hints here as they roll in….Good luck Sherlocks!

UPDATE: Here’s Clue #2, Clue #3, and Clue #4 – Remember you need them all to solve Friday’s big puzzle!

(More about the contest via @JSYK)

Daily Grommet gives a great endorsement

Remember how nutty everyone got over the Da Vinci Code? Staring at The Last Supper, looking for clues… well, Invisible I, the first novel in a new series called The Amanda Project, is a little bit like that, but its target audience is teen girls. It is a story of a mysterious “new girl” at Endeavor High who touches the lives of the main characters, and just as quickly disappears, leaving everyone — including the reader — compelled to figure it all out. Even more importantly, it’s a totally interactive experience. Beyond reading the book, your teen can use a cell phone camera to crack a code in the book, visit the website, and contribute her own stories and ideas to the online community.

Author Melissa Kantor creates a vivid and authentic reality, with text messages and passed notes baked right into the story, as well as moments of gritty realism (an alcoholic parent) all tastefully and carefully handled.

The next book in the series, Signal from Afar, is due out in June, which makes it a great time to join in the fun.

Read the full post here!

MediaBistro recently posted this video of Lisa Holton discussing innovations in interactive children’s publishing. Enjoy!

Some highlights:

• The twitterverse especially loved Lisa’s mention of The Amanda Project’s recent collaboration with Modcloth.
• ForeWord highlighted The Amanda Project as an “innovative application of reader engagement in authoring,” alongside other projects like the ever-popular book social networking site GoodReads, and HarperCollins’ new site for aspiring writers Inkpop.
• And (our favorite) Chapman/Chapman said in his DBW summary: “Fourth Story Media are doing very, very cool shit with transmedia storytelling.”