Addendum

The premium version will be made of metal and make satisfying clinking noises as you spin it, plus it will have multiple settings so that it can be used for all three books. That might be a trilogy, but it can also be a collection along some other lines.
The temptation will be great to have sentences that only someone with the premium code wheel can read, but it's a mistake. As it is, people will refrain from just looking up the text on the internet because they'll enjoy the process itself, but once they look up the secret message, that's it for restraint. Video game hint books work the same way.

Bringing Books Back Up

People don't want to read because it's far too simple, rote, and quite frankly, if you'll excuse such strong language, lacking in interactivity. What they really want is to buy books that are entirely in cipher and have a big code wheel with neat art on it so they can dive into the process, not just the substance. The code wheel can be signed by the author, the editor, the encoder, or all three for the deluxe edition.

The Superior Modern-Day Reading Experience

VR reading, except instead of having a virtual book in front of you as simple as that, there's someone sitting at a desk reading a book and you virtually read over his simulated shoulder.

Ergonomic Codex Design

Here we are in the year of our Lord 3824 (I didn't check) and we're still using rectangular books. Shouldn't they at least have a handle even if we won't go so far as to have a curved design so that there's room at the upper left to be grabbed while there's space where your heel will be? Also, is there another term for the part of your hand continuing from your thumb that makes a valley of your palm? I looked around a little bit but didn't find one.

Addendum

But there's still time for a hero shooter, right? Right?

Empty Bandwagons

It's probably too late to hope for success with a Vampire Survivors-type game, but not a single fantasy book property ended up being the setting for one so far as I know. What's everybody doing out there?

Addendum

We'll reuse the cover as well aside from adding the name of the expansion to it. "So what?" I heard that! Certainly covers today are disposable and mostly ugly, but knowing that we'll be getting more out of them, we'll invest more. We might even go so far as to make it look like something in the book, though quite frankly that's liable to decrease sales.

Sequels Take Too Long

We all know examples. I'll pass over them and get straight to the solution: Expansion packs. Why should a sequel be as long as the original? Or be written by the same author? And not come with a balance patch? To ask is to realize we've been caught up in foolish convention this entire time.

Addendum

Higher-production works should of course have little chibi pictures of characters as they walk, fight, eat, and so forth.

Visual-Literary Interdependency

In other words, every line of dialogue should have a little chibi picture of the speaker in the margin.

Only One Way Exists to Save the Industry

We have to rely on a combination of digital editing and book-altering nanomachines to make all the old books worse so people will buy the new books. Some of you may say the solution is to write good books. That worked about fifty years ago, but the number of good books has become such that the probability that a good book is new has fallen to MMORPG-rare-drop levels. Some of you may say that's irrelevant even if true because prospective buyers aren't choosing from the total pool of good books. That was the case up till you could ask AI chatbots what the good books are. The odds and the technology have changed; our strategy must change too.

Addendum

That's 33% over $90, of course. The only way to get people buying non-ebooks is to make them premium items. Each volume must be printed in the author's blood (cloning will be employed for the purpose).

The New Formatting Innovation

Everybody's going to skip to the end anyway, so why not include an author-chosen bookmark at the most favorable point? Of course ebooks should have one or even a set, but a "physical release" can have one at a markup of a mere 33%.

Addendum

But then when you try to claim your coupon, you have to answer some questions about the book. The answers are changed regularly for security reasons. This process may sound like a hassle, but do you want people to read more or not? What do you mean, "not particularly?" Well, yeah, I guess, when you put it that way.

Encouraging More People to Read

Coupons! For eggs! Inserted right in the book.

Borrowing Successful Ideas

Nowadays all the Youtubers put up a video with one title and thumbnail then change it later to trick more people into watching. This has been done also with the Wheel of Time. Isn't it time for this technique to propagate across the sequential-word industry?

Summary of the Blastopolitan Saga

For his crimes—saying what he thought and living how he liked—he was given a harsh sentence. He was . . .

EXILED TO BLASTOPOLIS

"I still can't believe I was exiled to Blastopolis, but I'm settling in," said Gilliam Axhagen as he potshotted another astro-mutant with his tri-fission blaster. "Say, what's that building over there, the one they're staying away from? It looks abandoned—just the sort of place they usually like. Could that be the location of one of the . . ."

SECRETS OF BLASTOPOLIS

"We've uncovered some of the secrets of Blastopolis." Fred Wendell laid a paternal hand on Gilliam's shoulder. "But we won't be able to understand much more unless you become . . ."

RULER OF BLASTOPOLIS

"Now that there's a true ruler of Blastopolis, we can hope for some order," said Fender Bivins as he vaporized one of the last four remaining sludge-trudgers. "But who knows what could be out there, out . . ."

BEYOND BLASTOPOLIS

"It turns out readers don't much care what's beyond Blastopolis." The publisher laid a paternal hand on the writer's shoulder. "We really think it would be better to take things . . ."

BACK TO BLASTOPOLIS
TRIUMPH IN BLASTOPOLIS
WAR IN BLASTOPOLIS
SURVIVORS OF BLASTOPOLIS
EXCURSION BEYOND BLASTOPOLIS
RETURN TO BLASTOPOLIS
GENESIS OF BLASTOPOLIS
CANCELLATION OF BLASTOPOLIS
REVIVAL OF BLASTOPOLIS
Finis

Addendum

The smooth maneuver is to label your pages wrong on purpose so that readers (and eventually non-readers) argue over the proper scores, make competing guides/wikis/apps, and generally generate a whole lot of fuss. Every entertainment product needs a little controversy, but don't get despondent thinking it has to be in the text.

The Newest Page Breakthrough

From now on, the numbers on pages will indicate not their order, though you can keep those if you're feeling old-fashioned, but how plot-relevant the page is so readers can skip all the filler. I have gathered from online discussions that pretty much everything is filler, so don't try to fool us by giving every page a 7+.

Sly Insertion

How do we integrate optional bosses, something unquestionably popular in games, into fantasy and science fiction books? Invisible ink is the obvious answer, but impractical. Maybe a QR code. Do companies still try to get people to use those?