‘Newspapers to Use Links to Rivals on Web Sites’: Lesson for e-bookers?
Via a service called Inform.com, newspapers will actually be offering automatic links to rival sites—displayed in sidebars and triggered by word use. When e-books can reliably link to other works, let’s hope that similar features can be present.
Right now a Random House author can freely cite a Simon & Schuster author on paper. Logically, in an era of linked e-books, the same would apply, and even automatic links could be generated if a writer wanted. But let’s not assume that’ll be inevitable. I just hope that writers and publishers Get It. Appropriate books–no, this isn’t for John Updike novels–should be as open as the Web.
Leave a Reply