A Kernl of Literature
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26 May 2009
Welcome to summer! I don’t know about you, but we grilled us some corn-on- the-cob over the weekend. So it’s only fitting to blog today about Hyperion’s new “e-imprint” Kernl. Kernls are described as “short packages of text combined with video and interactive components.”
Err? Yeah — me perplexed too. Clearly these are not books.
What are they? Well, it seems they might ultimately evolve into book-like substances. The words “incubation” and “full-length” are used in the article.
Kernl will also eventually seek advertising. This is the part that makes my face squinch up. A publisher (of books) adjusting to the new market reality by turning books into something which can be advertiser-sponsored. More likely, turning increasingly away from the production of print books, and toward the delivery of multi-media “packages.” Perhaps no surprise, since Hyperion is a division of ABC TV/Disney Media Networks.
I am no economics guru, but I think we learned about this in high school when we studied industrialization and the rise of big business. A little something called vertical integration? Any business-minded folk among you, with perspectives more sophisticated than my 1980s history textbook, please chime in and enlighten.
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