Call for Entries part 2
I’m keeping a running list of alternative fiction delivery methods that I’d like to experience. I’m not a writer, and I fundamentally do not have any interest in me personally inventing a fictional story for others.
BUT.
I love reading fiction. I love printed paper books first and foremost, but also I love digital media and the weird new things it affords for storytelling. And I’ve dipped my toe into publishing, helping make other people’s stories real.
So! Here’s a followup to my previous fiction RFP, where I listed out some media formats I’d love to publish. And I’m serious - if you’re a writer and you want to put out a story in one of these ways, I would love to help. Call me.
7
Fiction short story as told thru an iCal subscription. I’ve been using google calendar forever, and I subscribe to several outside calendars. Examples: holidays, when my favorite soccer team plays, home maintenance reminders. Somebody else makes and manages these; I just subscribe. When something new is added to these calendars, it just pops up on my calendar. SO: can I have an in-real-time calendar story that pops up new ‘events’ with the story? You could either place it all in advance, or add it to the calendar in real time and I’d see a new event on my calendar that says: ‘Romeo: 10pm crash party at Capulet house’ with details in the description.
8
Real World Boop. Do you know how cheap NFC tags are now? You could tell a story that’s made of small chunks - text, images, links, etc - and trigger delivery when the user boops an NFC tag with their phone. If I ran say, a downtown business district, I’d set up an immersive story where you need to find the NFC spot in each store.
9
Superlocal Radio. Again IF I had a physical establishment that was open to the public (eg, not my house) I’d set up one of those low-power FM transmitter radios; the kind that people use to broadcast music that’s synced up to their Christmas light displays. Except instead of Mannheim Steamroller, we’d be broadcasting… what? poetry? your audiobook? A fake overhead phone conversation? a numbers station?
10
The back of your grocery store receipt. Those ad spots on the back of your Kroger receipts are NOT very expensive. My local can run an ad for ~$400 / mo. What kind of story can we tell in that ad space? If we can figure it out, we can share it with thousands of shoppers per day.
11
At the bottom of your thermal printed receipt. This is really a pre-covid idea - because now, who even prints out receipts? But there are already little app marketplaces for point-of-sale platforms like Clover or Square that lets you customize the printed receipts you give your customers. But since you’re collecting info and identifying customers, why don’t you give them the next few paragraphs of the story you’re telling? Just print it on the receipt, in the order they visit your coffee shop?
Call me
I do have some first starts at some of these. This spring I worked with my daughter to publish a choosable-path story as a phone tree (it’s real, you can call it at 785-264-6424!)
But really, for most of these ideas I stall out on these because I’m not a writer - I don’t have a story to tell, and without that, what’s the point? But if you are a writer, consider this your invitation to query me!