Fly the Friendly (Open) Skies!

Turn to page 38 of your onboard magazine for a list of the non-alcoholic beverages and snacks available. Should you want to celebrate this news with champagne, GK Airlines only accepts credit (yes, those little machines that break half the time in mid-air--unless, of course, you're on Virgin America, the airline that looks like a purple-hued club at all hours), gummi bears, and winning contest entries. (There will, btw, be more contests soon.)

Two sky-related items of interest (three, if you count the fact that GK landed safely at JFK):

1) This book is awesome: 

Yes, I've been lusting after it ever since I saw the pretty cover (and that is, according to O Magazine's summer reading issue, quite okay: we're to give ourselves permission to judge books by their covers--and, apparently, to spend $70 on items like reed diffusers. GK reads O for the book recommendations--which are good--and laughs at the "frugal" shopping suggestions).

Love in Mid Air is fun, romantic, sensitive, and an excellent example of women's fiction. It's also totally addictive. Who stayed up far too late just to read more? That's right, GK did. (All typos are henceforth to be attributed to GK's dedicated reading.)

Note that, according to this quiz, it fits well into the women's fiction genre: I'd share it with my mother (who does not have tattoos or ride a motorcycle); the book opens with the protagonist traveling; it's middlebrow, somewhat steamy (but with other excellent elements), and its cover, though it doesn't sport an ocean,  watercolor, or interior domestic scene, is pretty close. And I've yet to see any unfortunate euphemisms.

On to item two.

2) If you haven't been paying attention to Open Sky, you should get on that. 

Basically--you know that little thing called Merchandising Rights? (This was one of the many items debated in that awful contract I mentioned a few weeks ago.) These rights have to do with your ability as an author to create non-book products based on your book. Generally, agents prefer that their authors keep them--but it's worth asking, should you be interested in Open Sky and other, similar opportunities.

Here's a great example from this article (the whole article is excellent) about how it would work:

David Hale Smith, a Texas literary agent, was about the only one who hadn't morphed roles since Naples [a former book agent, now Open Sky representative] last saw him. After they sat down at a table near that escalator, Smith immediately handed her [Naples] a copy of a client's newest novel: "So Cold the River" by Michael Koryta. Smith mentioned that it's set in an old hotel in central Indiana known for its Pluto Water, believed to have healthful effects.

Naples lit up: "If (Koryta) was on OpenSky, the novel could be tied to a promotion of the hotel. He could have a button on his site for readers to buy the book and the water." (OpenSky would find a supplier to bottle and ship it.) She described other commercial possibilities: a sneak-peak download of a chapter of his next book, a "webinar" with him discussing his stories.

Now, you're probably thinking: Bottled water?! Who the heck would buy that?

Well. Yes. Bottled water is, according to the documentary Tapped, pretty darn scary.

But that's just the beginning. Readers, we've been arguing for years (especially when dealing with the idea of digital versus printed books) like a multi-sensory experience.

Services are also possible--but, as the author quips, it's hard to imagine Jane Austen selling matchmaking assistance. Had Open Sky been around then, Ms. Austen would likely have considered the idea for a very interesting millisecond.

For authors with an established platform, this could be an amazing way to expand their earning power.

What do you think? And what products would you design (with Open Sky's help) for your book?