Facebook’s first travel books? The iGo iWrite experiment

Plenty of books have made the trip from print to online, but Web-to-print is a road less traveled. Still, a growing group of amateur and professional writers, headed by social media consultancy firm Compleo Apps, is blazing forward on that road, aiming to be part of the first printed travel series compiled totally online.

Who’s in on this exactly? Well, you could be, if you’re one of the over 150 million folks on Facebook. The iGo iWrite application offers users the opportunity to submit travel stories, and the final selected submissions will find their way into bona fide print books.

Stories that have been thus far posted are on subjects titled “Beach Lowdown,” “European Adventure” and “Road Trip,” and the application also gives writers the option to launch their own topic.

Billing itself as a “social media experiment,” the Web 2.0 application is more than just an opportunity to submit a work for possible publication. You can also read through others’ submitted stories and rate them, helping decide which stories make it to the bound editions.

“So essentially, if the feisty scribes in the iGo iWrite community rank your travel stories high enough, your writing will then appear in the final product,” said Compleo co-founder Paul Spicer in an e-mail.

Spicer said the books will be available through Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other outlets, though how the books will be distributed is yet to be finalized. The company was initially planning on self-publishing, but the project has also received interest from traditional publishing houses. “We are currently discussing possible distribution opportunities if we find a partner that shares our vision,” he said.

The beta version of the application was launched eight months ago, and it moved out of beta with a new version last week, according to Spicer. Over 600 users have downloaded the application thus far.

Caveats: Read the “publishing terms” on the app before submitting your work. The bottom line is that you don’t get paid for your work and give up some rights. But, if you like the sound of possibly getting published while having fun along the way, this is one experiment that could be worth your while. And who doesn’t need an excuse to spend more time on Facebook?

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Image: iGoiWrite.com]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 6:00 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Arts & Culture, News, Tips & Advice, Travel Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.