rethinking storytelling

I came across this article from Andreessen Horowitz a week or so ago, discussing how China has innovated their multimedia business models in ways that we haven’t here in the West. I’ve been writing a longer post discussing my thoughts on it and how I can apply some of it to my own offerings.

In the meantime, it got me reconsidering some thoughts I had around storytelling and how there hasn’t been much innovation in how stories are delivered.

I’ve always fancied the idea of a mystery story delivered via Instagram, with location tags and posts being used as clues or evidence for the reader to follow.

Or what about serialised stories delivered via podcast, with episodes being delivered in the morning and afternoon to provide entertainment for commuters?

Where’s the great Twitter novel? When will someone make a story native to one of the platforms that now permeate our day to day?

There are of course, escape rooms, digitally delivered location dependent treasure hunts and print out short story machines in commuter stations, so there is some innovation in the space.

The problem is probably one of payment. Creators probably don’t see it as worth their while to put something on aa free platform, anticipating a mass non-payment for their art. The tipping system outlined in the article above, doesn’t yet exist here and isn’t integrated into our culture.

There’s something to be done here. Paid email newsletters are now a thing - provide the opening half of a story for free, the concluding part needs to be subscribed to? A Stripe payment leads to a private Twitter feed with the story laid out there?

I feel like there’s something exciting to be done in this space. If you know of anything along these lines, please let me know.