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 22nd…
They posted the video as well. Check out the full post here!
Today is a big day for Fourth Story – The Amanda Project is officially live!
The site has been in closed beta testing since April with a 150 fantastic teen girls who have helped us shape the site into what it is today.
Numerous people have been involved in developing the site, but we’d like to give a special shout out to our incredible developers at Happy Cog and Easy Designs. Amanda wouldn’t be here without you!
My Milk Toof: A story about the adventures of a small tooth named Ickle, and his buddy Lardee told through daily pictures (see photo)
Purefold: Ridley Scott’s new project that will scan social networking sites for online conversations across social media to be “used by brands as the basis for storylines that are fleshed out and rewritten by professional scriptwriters.”
Guillermo Del Toro’s quote about the Story Engine: “In the next 10 years, we’re going to see all the forms of entertainment – film, television, video, games, and print – melding into a single-platform ’story-engine.’”
Do you love reading, writing, and telling stories? Are you interested in helping launch the first interactive, collaborative mystery for teen girls? Well, come work for us! We’re saving a seat for you.
Fourth Story Media is now accepting applications for our Summer Internship Program (July 1st – August 31st). Internships are part time (approximately 10-15 hrs/wk), with flexible schedules and the ability to work remotely.
There are three types of FSM internships – Editorial, Marketing, and Online Community Management/Tech. For more information on what each entails, as well as details about how to apply visit our Internship page.
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.”
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.”
With early June bringing both Book Expo America (BEA) and Internet Week to the fine city of New York, Fourth Story Media was recently invited to speak on a few panels.
As part of School Library Journal’s Day of Dialog during BEA, Lisa Holton, FSM’s CEO & Founder, sat on the panel The Multiplatform Novel: From Print to Web to Social Networks. Moderated by librarian extraordinaire Lisa Von Drasek (who raved about how she couldn’t put down Invisible I), other panelists included Scholastic’s David Levithan, 39 Clues author Peter Lerangis, and Jennifer Cowan, author of Earthgirl. The conversation ranged from the process and challenges involved in creating multimedia series to the fundamental importance of strong narrative.
And, over Internet Week, Ariel Aberg-Riger, FSM’s Creative Development & Marketing Manager, spoke on the panel Beyond Facebook: How Will Today’s Students Use the Web of Tomorrow? Hosted by “the librarian of the internet” Finding Dulcinea, panelists included Unigo’s Jordan Goldman, Kate Hillis of Next Next Entertainment and Qwidget, James Rohrbach of Gulliver Go, and Inigral’s Michael Stanton. Focusing on ways to encourage user participation and user generated content, panelists discussed their start-ups and predicted how students will expect to interact with content, brands, and companies in the future.
For coverage of the panels, check out our press section.
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.
Spike Jonze’s new (and fantastic) blog We Love You So (created in anticipation of this Fall’s Where The Wild Things Are movie), recently posted this video of Mister Rogers defending PBS to the U.S. Senate in 1969. As they say, “have the tissues ready.”
