Television commercials are somewhat unavoidable, if you're not fast enough with the clicker. Many's the night that I was engrossed in reading (non-fiction lately), only to look up and see an advertisement for IBM flowing through the hi-def screen.
My holdings in IBM have been doing quite well, so I paused to listen. What were they up to next that would boost stock prices?
What's this? A super-intelligent computer that can out-think the smart people who stand apart as all-time champions of Jeopardy?
Sorry, all you hard-working folk at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Riverdeep EMPG et al. I'm not so captivated as to purchase an unfinished e-book about the project. You can send me a link for a free download if you'd like, but I can wait to hear about the final outcome.
HMH, of whale-swallowing minnow fame, has issued an e-book that details IBM's efforts to create a smart computer. The final chapter is missing, and it's an intentional omission.
Did IBM succeed, you'd like to know. The television show on which the computer is tested against two human brains will no doubt receive all sorts of hype prior to broadcast, at which time the question will be answered.
Of course the show is already in the can and Stephen Baker already knows if his invention works. The sponsors of Jeopardy want the world to be waiting in breathless anticipation for that particular broadcast, enough that ratings will get a huge boost and the sponsors empty their wallets with greedy smiles.
The e-book is part of the marketing strategy. Add to the build-up and you add to the potential audience, who may not channel-surf away from all the commercials out of fear of missing a moment of excitement as man battles machine.
After the show, the final chapter and the hard copy book will be on the market.
It's been noted that novels used to be serialized in newspapers, which is probably why Charles Dickens has such long, wordy chapters (paid by the word, do you think?). This manner of book publishing is following the old model.
I'd say that's a long stretch to reach parity.
Release a chapter a week, with the final chapter issued right after the show airs, and I'd call it a serial edition. Put everything out except the last chapter and I'd call it a marketing strategy that takes a page from Hollywood's treatment of the last Harry Potter book.
No comments:
Post a Comment