We are very happy to announce the second installment of “Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto,” (published by O’Reilly and edited by Hugh McGuire of PressBooks and Brian O’Leary), with new essays from Eli James, Erin McKean, Terry Jones, Aaron Miller and Travis Alber, Brett Sandursky, Ron Martinez, Peter Brantley, Kassia Krozser and Hugh McGuire.

While Part One defined the current state of publishing as it moves to digital, Part Two opens up new ground about what we can now do with books — if we choose to be bold. We explore web literature, books as data sets, social reading, obscurity, and the reader’s role in the new digital world. You can buy the book here, or read it online for free: Part 1:

• Context, Not Container (Brian O’Leary)
• Distribution Everywhere (Andrew Savikas)
• What We Can Do with “Books” (Liza Daly)
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Metadata (Laura Dawson)
• Analyzing the Business Case for DRM (Kirk Biglione)
• Tools of the Digital Workflow (Brian O’Leary)
• Designing Books in the Digital Age (Craig Mod)

Part 2:

• Why the Book and the Internet Will Merge (Hugh McGuire)
• Web Literature: Publishing on the Social Web (Eli James)
• Making Books Out of Words (Erin McKean)
• Why Digital Books Will Become Writable (Terry Jones)
• Above the Silos: Reading in the Age of Mechanical Barriers (Travis Alber & Aaron Miller)
• User Experience, Reader Experience (Brett Sandusky)
• App, Meet Book (Ron Martinez)
• The Curation of Obscurity (Peter Brantley)
• A Reader’s Bill of Rights (Kassia Krozser)