Well-known Japanese novelist Ryu Murakami is releasing his next novel, A Singing Whale, directly to iPad owners via Apple Japan’s App Store, circumventing his traditional publisher in the process.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Murakami is working with a software company to release the novel alongside video content and music by Academy Award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Pending App Store approval, A Singing Whale will be available for 1,500 yen (about $17). Apple will receive 30% of the revenue, with the remainder to be divided among Murakami, Sakamoto and the software company.
Although the author advises publishers to “read it and weep,” this doesn’t mark the beginning of the end for the publishing industry — at least not yet. What Murakami is releasing is not an e-book in the traditional sense, but a full multimedia experience that can’t be replicated in print. In some respects, it’s similar to Alice for the iPad, an app that brings Lewis Caroll’s beloved Alice (
) in Wonderland to life with full-color animations and interactive features. Furthermore, the author is also still in talks with its publisher, Kodansha, about releasing a hard copy of the novel.
