YOU'VE GOT BLOOK!
It's called Hackoff.com, and it's out, at least on the web, as of today. I've been a long-time fan of Tom's blog, Fractals of Change, having also known Tom through some common Internet experiences through the 1990s, during what is now quaintly called Web 1.0 (web commercialization 1994-2001).
Everyone at one time or another has fantasized about writing a book (come on, admit it). It takes a heck of a lot to go from wishing to doing, and Tom has actually done it.
And he's done it with some creative twists and gone some extra miles. Let me try and count the ways.
1. Although the book will come out in traditional hard cover early next year, Tom is publishing the book on the web (under the Creative Commons license) in a serialized chapter by chapter form.
2. You can subscribe to it, like you would a blog, through an email feed and more. Thus the thing is called a BLOOK, with its own blog. As VC Fred Wilson reminds us, this sort of thing has been done before, but Tom's added a whole lot more bells and whistles.
3. Tom's using most of the communications tools of web 2.0 for his web 1.0 murder mystery, including wiki-based communities and RSS feeds.
4. One of the main characters in the book, the company in question, called Hackoff.com, has its own faux, but real web site, which will evolve as the story progresses.
5. If you read the book on the same computer, you can use "Blookmarks", which bookmarks the place where you left off.
6. Readers can leave their reviews of each chapter and episode online, on the blog, in the form of comments.
This is just the beginning, and I'm sure Tom will add more as things move along. It's a cool idea, with solid implementation.
I'm looking forward to adding Hackoff.com to my summer reading list, and recommend you check it out as well. Like VC Brad Feld, who may have to watch less 24, I'm going to have to juggle my media-rich plate as well.
I may have to postpone starting Killing Rain, by Barry Eisler, the fourth in the Eiger Sanction-like "John Rain" thriller series, which Brad had recommended in a post a few weeks ago.
Have a great Sunday morning with the first chapter here.
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