Main Entry: book | Pronunciation: \ˈbuk\ | Function: noun | Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bōc; akin to Old High German buoh book, Gothic boka letter | Date: before 12th century
1 a : a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory b : a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together into a volume c : a long written or printed literary composition

After centuries of remaining generally the same, that definition could use some updating. Along with every other industry and product, books have been changing, & changing fast.

At the moment, you can find a ‘book’ in many ‘flavors’: print, interactive pdf, epub, mobi, kindle, nook, html…or just name a smartphone – there’s a way to read an entire book on it. With the growing ease of printing with POD (print on demand) publishing, anyone can publish their book nearly ‘risk-free’ in print & many of these other formats. How then can you set your book apart from the mass quantities of books now available, because ‘anyone’ can publish?

Soon, the lines will be blurred even further between books and all other content found digitally online. You can find loads of other content and information anywhere you look online. In the same way we can produce interactive and engaging websites with video & audio, we can produce interactive digital books. What then is a book? And what will make your book different from all of that information, especially when it’s being produced in a very similar way to a website?

All of this may be happening faster than some would like, but the definition of a book is going to keep changing. It’s a moving target. But if you’re an author, you just need to grasp the current definition, then get ahead of it. Take a look into the future & you’ll see that success in selling your books will come down to marketing & design, in many forms.

So think about ways that you can:

• stand out & be remarkable
• build on & offline communities around your work
• create meaningful work that speaks to existing niche communities & solve a problem for them in an entirely new way
• produce a cover that speaks to & excites your market
• truly connect & engage with your reader with an authentic voice, even within the pages of the book itself with interactivity

And if you’re ever stuck between taking a safe approach a & risky one, take the risk & get uncomfortable. In the end you’ll find that it was actually the better choice. Safe will just be ignored. And if you’re going to put your heart & soul into your work, do you really want it to be ignored?

Lisa Peterson is an entrepreneur, Director of Studio 6 Sense, Founder of Sozo Arts & SproutWords. She’s designed & developed branding & media campaigns for numerous fortune 500 companies, as well as design & marketing programs for Bestselling authors. She’s active in serving her community, driven to live with purpose & loves to collaborate with clients & others who do the same.