CSI creator Anthony Zuiker intentionally pushed the envelope to revolutionize the publishing industry with his upcoming "Digi-Novel", Level 26: Dark Origins.

Level 26 combines traditional reading with video "cyber bridges" to drive readers from the book to Level26.com and back again. The website also has extra content and social networking capabilities for readers. Zuiker created Level 26 to be a "total sensory experience," he told Fast Company. "I think that's the future of consuming books, period."

For Zuiker, the first Digi-Novel is a prototype that will allow him to explore how multiplatform storytelling is going to work. Level 26 will appeal to a certain segment of readers, but he plans to create future projects that are geared toward different demographics. "I want to turn the digi-novel into its own industry," Zuiker explained. "You walk into B. Dalton, there's 50 Zuiker books there."

Zuiker was frustrated by the lack of control he had over the CSI franchise, and that's one reason the Digi-Novel concept appealed to him. "I want to be in a position to own," Zuiker said. "I own the content that I write and shoot; I own all the characters; I own my e-book rights; I own my Web site."

Level26.com was created by EQAL, the social entertainment company behind lonelygirl15. When lonelygirl15 was launched, EQAL co-founder Greg Goodfried noticed that fans would come to the site for original content, but they would linger to speak to other visitors about things that had nothing to do with the site. "[W]e had this realization that if you can drive somebody to a place around an entertainment property, and then provide them with social tools to talk about these other things, you're going to build a really vibrant community -- a whole universe," Goodfried said.

There are other cross-platform novels, including Scholastic's The 39 Clues. The book guides young readers to a website to access puzzles and games. "That's a similar idea in the sense that the book is the foundation," explained Dutton's president and publisher Brian Tart, "but it doesn't go to the viral experience. We want to create a community that lives online."

Because of the dark nature of Level 26, Zuiker has had trouble getting corporate backing for his new cross-platform concept. "Let's be frank: It's not earned now," Zuiker said. "When I've earned a half a million users on my site, and shown that you can tell stories on three platforms and be solvent, then I'll have more leverage. I need to prove to the industry, on so many levels, that this can work."

The original article--including video clips--can be found in its entirety on the Fast Company website.

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