: Re: How do we spread a story across several different media without alienating our readers? I thought about spreading a story across a video game, comic book and novel, but I am not sure if doing

@Karen856

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Producing a compelling artistic work which tells a story and engages customers (novel readers, comic book readers, or gamers) is hard. Only a subset of people are receptive to your story, and only a subset of that subset participate in the media you choose. If you try to market only to those people who are read novels and comic books, and who are gamers, you have reduced your base to nearly nothing.

Can it be done? Of course. Brilliant creativity can untangle any puzzle.

The problem will be selling the idea simultaneously to a novel publisher, comic book publisher, and a game studio with a strong enough pitch and business plan that each will take a risk not only on you but also on the other partners.

It is hard. But, if you succeed you will have defined a new business model. You may lead to the partners to merge into a vast multi-media empire.

You are more likely to succeed by a compelling story in one of these forms. With a base of people captured by the story, it would be easier (not easy, just easier) to extend the story into other media. You have the success of one media to help pitch the idea to the publishers of other media.

It is a mistake to suppose that I represent the market, so enjoy watching me make that mistake here.

I read. I read comics. I play games. I would never begin a story knowing that I must do all three to reach the conclusion. If I happened upon one and, having invested the time, reached the end only to be teased, I would reject your scheme and warn anyone who would listen. I would find your scheme to be a buggy conceit rather than an intriguing feature. I would write a scalding review on Amazon.

You could bundle all three forms into a single package with a single price. Once you do, you must solve the distribution problem. Is it sold in book stores, comic shops, or video game franchises? You may be left with only Amazon. Make it all be digital downloads to keep down your production cost. Assuming a digital platform, make the crosslinks be transparent. Seamlessly switch between the three story-telling modes. That could be real fun.

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