A while back, I tried to brainstorm some ways that digital books can deliver value that print simply can’t. Thriller writer Joe Konrath (also known as horror writer Jack Kilborn), has one-upped me with his recently posted “average reader scenario” set four years from now.

Imagining himself as an average reader with a $99 ebook device, Konrath tosses out idea after idea to illustrate how digital publishing can change the reader/author experience.

Here are some of Konrath’s examples:

• ambient sound effects soundtrack scored to the book–as you’re reading, you hear wind, crickets, subtle background music, or whatever else suits the content on the page at that moment
• the ability to shift the output of your ereader to other display devices, like your HDTV (Konrath doesn’t mention details but it seems obvious that this should be wireless and require zero configuration beyond a simply password challenge)
• multimedia footnotes, including video of the author talking about the work
• brick and mortar bookstores as “try before you buy” physical catalogs
• ads within the text, between chapters for example
• removable ebook covers (insertable cardboard in his example) that can be signed by the author at personal appearances

He also touches on on-location, print-on-demand technology that’s just now starting to be introduced to a few bookstores, where a customer can select a title from a digital catalog and have the book printed and bound while she waits. This may be the one device that will save small and independent booksellers, but unfortunately it’s so expensive right now (well over $100k the last time I checked) that it’s little more than a sci-fi concept in 2009-10.

I’m sure a lot of readers and authors blanche at the idea of in-book advertising, which Konrath describes in multiple ways throughout the scenario. I don’t think it’s a necessarily evil development, and it doesn’t sound like Konrath does either, based on some of the discussions going on in the comments on another one of his posts. But I also think advertising doesn’t have to be tacky, and books are not sacred objects; if you disagree with me on either of those positions, you’ll probably find the idea of placing ads in books abhorrent.

Read the full user experience narrative here:
“E-Volution” [jakonrath.blogspot.com]