The Three Rs.

Reading, writing, 'rithmatic were the pillars of the education system for a century before technology decided to throw it a curve ball and everything about the three Rs changed forever. Sure we had calculators decades before tablets but did we have Wolfram Alpha or Solver to ask the really difficult maths questions? Where the humble calculator replaced the slide rule, algorithms made them all obsolete, to the extent no one is afraid of mathematics anymore. The times table has long since died, along with trigonometry to be replaced by APPs that calculate every computation known to man. Maths was easy to disrupt with technology because it was the backbone already, reading and writing was another matter.

In its short 17 year lifespan, Amazon, has totally disrupted how we read, what we read, where we read and why we read. It has revitalised books, reformatted books and analysed books, while infuriating the publishing world, kept up innovation with the likes of Apple and never wavered from it's mission to become the World's Bookstore. Amazon has opened up a library so big and so vast, there will always be something for someone to read and now they want to make it easier for those that write.

They are playing around with analytics where books are serialised, so the author can interact with his reading audience throughout the story. The way "The Bold and The Beautiful" look at ratings depending on which characters are introduced and then write scripts accordingly, Amazon wants to do the same for writers. Reader interaction will be measured along plot lines, characters and cause the story line to meander and pander to the audience's taste.

Serial writers of past, like Charles Dickens and even Stephen King, published weekly instalments of their novels but they never had the advantage of gauging the audience embracement of plot and character to then take advantage of likes and dislikes to complete their novel to total audience gratification. Amazon is not alone when it comes to writing analysis, companies like Hiptype indicate where readers lose interest in a character or story and also where they are most captivated, enabling writers and publishers to give people exactly what they want to read. None of this is possible without digital readers like the Kindle and the Kobo, constantly gathering information on how, what, and where we read.

So for those of us that write, we now have other considerations to take into account, other than writing because we like the experience. Considerations along the lines of what we start to write may not be what we end up writing, if we want to totally satisfy our readers. Consider the social network and ask for ideas to include in writing, consider the time taken to write a book that is serialised and have the ability to keep up with societal changes and most of all consider loyal readers who now have the ability to be engaged on a very intimate level with the writing.

More than the occasional comment made in a review, analysis has the ability to tailor reading tastes individually and why wouldn't you want to read your favourite author, writing on your favourite character with your input. Okay, I'm waiting for input.