Won’t Somebody Think Of The Children?
Alina Adams wrote figure skating mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, romances for AVON and Dell, and soap-opera tie-ins for Pocket Books. Her latest project, Skate Crime: Multimedia, an enhanced e-book, ” retails for $.99 cents in Amazon’s Kindle store at: http://tinyurl.com/SkateCrime and can be experienced through the Kindle app on iPad, iPhone, and your desktop. Read more at: http://www.AlinaAdams.com.
I came to the United States from the Soviet Union with my parents at the age of seven.
I didn’t speak a word of English (and this was, thankfully, before the advent of bilingual education, so that the school I attended promptly placed me in an all-English speaking class, making it clear that I’d better learn English, and quickly, instead of leaving me to languish for years in a segregated classroom).
So learn English, I did.
Primarily from soap operas.
I watched them on summer vacations and holidays from elementary school, and, by high-school, I’d gotten a radio that received TV signals so I could at least listen to them during lunch on the bus home.
I watched them through college, and then I watched them professionally as the writer for E! Entertainment’s “Pure Soap” show.
I moved to Los Angeles to work for E!, and then I moved to New York City to work for ABC Daytime, where not only did my office have a TV, but we were required to put on “Loving,” “All My Children,” “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital.”
I left ABC and, after my oldest son was born, moved to Procter & Gamble Productions, where I did the websites for and wrote “New York Times” best-selling tie-in books to “As The World Turns” and “Guiding Light.” I developed an on-line text and video series for another of their brands, “Another World” (http://www.AnotherWorldToday.com), and took soap operas to Twitter with http://twitter.com/MindyLewisBauer.
“Guiding Light” was cancelled in 2009. “As the World Turns” followed in 2010. Now comes word that “All My Children” will leave the air in 2011, and “One Life to Live” in 2012.
Talk shows are cheaper to produce than soap operas, so even if their ratings are ultimately lower, the profit margins for the networks remain bigger. Show business, as Mel Brooks famously said is, “show business!”
I get that.
I also get that my love for serial storytelling isn’t going away, just because the format is (currently) unprofitable.
So, I have a plan. As my husband tells the kids when they want to interrupt me while I’m working, “Shhh, Mommy is busy saving soap operas.”
And, pray tell, how precisely does Mommy intend to do that?
By going back to something tried and true. Which is books.
And something completely and utterly new. Which is enhanced e-books.
So…. What are enhanced e-books, exactly?
Well, nobody knows for sure quite yet. http://www.Vook.com is giving it a shot. So is the Perseus Book Group.
The majority of enhanced e-book titles are presently non-fiction, adding in news footage, audio, graphs, maps, etc… to tell their stories. But, even the fictional titles are being enhanced with non-fiction elements such as author interviews, location footage and book trailers.
I want to do something different. I want to add video footage to my novels that actually contributes to the story, something that isn’t merely an extra but an integral part of the complete tale.
That’s why I’m not just making my Berkley Prime Crime Figure Skating Mystery series available electronically, I am inserting genuine, professional skating footage (provided by the Ice Theatre of New York) directly into the text.
My five skating mysteries, Murder on Ice, On Thin Ice, Axel of Evil, Death Drop and Skate Crime feature recurring characters with relationships that evolve from book to book. (You could say they were almost… soap opera like).
They are my dry run for what I hope to do next, which is embark on an original e-book series which will feature both text and video, and continue indefinitely via feedback from the audience (something else I developed at http://www.AnotherWorldToday.com; including a poll at the end of each episode so that readers could actually guide my actions).
It is imperative that open-ended, serialized storytelling continue in some form.
Or else how will future immigrants ever learn English?
June 25, 2011
Posted in: Guest Blogs
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7 Responses
And where would actors like Kevin Bacon, Kathleen Turner, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones, Marisa Tomei, Susan Sarandon, and so many others get their start?
Exciting project, Alina.
Oh, my, the very thought of no Kevin Bacon! Alina, you’ve put a fresh spin on the current trend towards fewer, and maybe no, soap operas. Thank you for visiting and bringing this up
I think this is an excellent idea. I already find that a lot of what I read is in a series format or by the same author. What an great way to hang on to the soaps!
Excellent idea. I really enjoy reading ebooks. I read a lot of series format books, also. This would be such a compelling medium. Keep up the good work in all that you are doing to save soaps!
I like serialized books. Adding in video touches sounds like a good step in the evolution/hybridization of soaps and books.
I’m surprised actually that the companies that own the rights to so many soap characters haven’t done this already. Tie-in books have been successful money makers (I think) for GL and ATWT, so i don’t understand why they would leave the characters sitting on a shelf.
“Tales of the City” and it’s 5 follow up novels are among my favorite books. True Blood started as a book series. So, i’m taking my love of soap operas back to their roots and reading again.
Glad that you’ll be leading the charge with elements of new media.
This is very exciting, Alina. I like how you are getting the word out at different places about the new projects. Serialized storytelling is going through a transition, but it is here to stay in one form or another.
I admire what you are doing to try to save the genre. I love to read and I have read your book you wrote for As the World Turns and Guiding Light. I was hoping more books would have been written about the shows. The very first soap I ever watch as a kid was Another World. As a handicapped woman, I am left with only one show left Days of Our Lives. I am just hoping that books don’t become obsolete because of ebooks. There is nothing like reading a real book.
I want to let you and the readers here know about a coupon campaign going on at Sudz.tv to save our soaps. We are asking soap fans to please fill out a coupon with their name, address and cable/satellite provider. These coupons are trying to create a demand for a soap channel. This may be the only way to save our soaps since regular networks find them too expensive to produce. Please any fans out there go to http://www.sudz.tv for further details.
Good luck Alina with saving the daytime serial. We all need to save this genre before it is too late. I look forward to your books.
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