We were made to have personal connections. If you think about how God created the world and designed man and woman, the reality of this is inescapable. Our God is relational and desires to be known, to know us and for us to know each other.

Nothing shows that more dramatically than the incarnation of God’s Son Jesus. In that moment God connected with His creation in a way that no one could have imagined or planned for. The Israelites had seen pillars of fire, the Spirit’s entry into the Temple and countless prophets representing God. But to see God in person impacted us as a human race and His death changed our eternal destiny.

This reality of personal experience guided much of human history. But as Modernity took hold over the past two centuries, the value of personal connection was reduced. Instead, the driving value was progress and the pathway of progress was logic and reason. In the push for new technology and discovery, we focused on facts at the expense of story.

The sidelining of narrative meant that relationships and personal connection were also sidelined – quite unintentionally. You might counter that personal relationships have always been core to culture, but during Modernity these were siloed to people’s “personal time” and kept away from the movements of industry and discovery.

The Publishing Industry as an Example 
One example of this is the book. The ideas in books started out as stories told by people in village squares, around camp fires and in homes. And as technology was introduced those stories took the form of a product that could be mass produced and distributed widely. Over time, this new container changed the content. Much of the content produced in today’s modern publishing industry is focused on delivery of a storyline, facts, ideas or opinions without much connection to the author. Today you can read an author’s entire fiction series and know very little about her. Or you can read every book a thought leader shares and not even know what kind of food they like. In fact, over the years we have been taught that knowing the back story isn’t that important. We have been pushed to isolate the ideas from the person and judge ideas only on their merit rather than in the context of who is saying them.

But that was then . . .
As Modernity has ended with the dramatic reaction of Post-Modernity, there has been a significant renewal of interest in incarnational principles. Western cultures are pushing away from the mass-produced solutions that have been our staples and are seeking out the back story that holds with it the promise of a relationship.
Because of this we have seen the rise in social media tools allowing us to connect and share our lives. We have also seen thought leaders begin to pay close attention to their brand and the authenticity they portray with their fans and followers. All this is changing publishing in some very dramatic ways.

Where it used to be that a publisher could present content and readers would purchase it based mostly on whether the ideas were worth interacting with, now readers want relationship with the authors they read. No, they don’t so much want to hang out with them daily or have them over for dinner. What we want is to know the author presenting the ideas, their past, their interests, their passions and their motives for writing. The reader wants the whole picture.

In this time of transition this change has manifested itself in author’s developing social media, YouTube channels, Web pages and fan clubs. The challenge with all of this is that it is very disorganized and difficult to find. As authors have tried to give their readers a context for the ideas they are presenting, they have created a hogpog of resources and connection points.

What is the answer to this? Well, I work at Novo Ink, a Christian eBook distributor and publisher, and we believe that the enhanced eBook will be one of the key products that begins to bring this all together. Imagine if an eBook can have audio, video, surveys, social interaction and links to important resources. What will that do to the book? I believe it will bring the story and the storyteller back together and provide the reader with a rich experience that allows them to know the author and their ideas in new ways.

Why is this important? Well, as we begin to think of technology within the context of relationships rather than the context of progress, we will begin to use technology to enhance relationships and create new opportunities to connect. The enhanced eBook will allow an author to come alive in their writing and challenge readers to join him/her in their cause or topic.

I believe that this will change books forever. We will see authors begin to engage in ways that they have not bothered to up till now. And more importantly, we will see Christian authors begin to define their efforts by the principles of incarnation that Jesus modeled.

In the coming weeks and months, I will be blogging about being an incarnational thought leader and how enhanced eBooks can be a tool as we strive to build community and engage those around us. I hope you will join me in this discussion.