This Penguin With Snow Crash Walks Into A Second Life

October 14th, 2006 · No Comments
by Booksquare

Cover of UK edition of Snow CrashBecause we don’t want to create the impression that we think everything is bad in the world of publishing, we’d like to joyfully highlight something good: the juxtaposition of Penguin UK, Second Life, and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. If it is sounds like a cool party, it is.

“Wha?” you say? “You mean someone’s finally put the pieces together?”

Yes, that’s it exactly. The publisher of the book that introduced us to the Metaverse — a virtual world where people enter into personal and business transactions of all types — has created a special offer for residents of Second Life, a virtual world where people enter into personal and business…well, you know the rest. Since Snow Crash introduced many of the concepts being used in environments like SL, it is only fitting that the publisher try to sell the book that started it all.

(By the way, you have read Snow Crash, haven’t you?)

Penguin UK is looking to expand their use of Second Life (and presumably other online venues, though we would never pretend to know the minds of publishers), and are looking for suggestions for books that fit the bill. We do not know if the publisher has the rights to the collected works of William Gibson, but surely Idoru or Pattern Recognition fit the bill. Yeah, that’s us, always giving it away for free.

Through some bizarre, sick twisted sense of territorial rights, this offer is only open to UK residents. Which, if you think about what’s being sold and to whom, is a bit of a unwelcome intrusion of Real Life. Especially since the products are available in ebook and audiobook format.

Yeah, even when we’re excited, we need our daily dose of snark.

File Under: Marketing For Introverts