"All Quiet of the Western Front" Screenwriter Releases First Novel on Amazon's Kindle

    SAN DIEGO, CA, April 01, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Ian Stokell, co-writer-producer of the all new "All Quiet on the Western Front" feature film, has released his first short novel on Amazon's Kindle platform, entitled "Rabbits and Trains". The novella is about the unbreakable bond between a grandfather, his grandson, and an old sheepdog named Mr. Smith. It is available for just 99 cents.

For Stokell, the evolution of digital and online distribution of artistic works is both liberating and game changing, requiring industries to almost completely reevaluate their revenue stream models and their business strategies. At the same time, they are a new way for a writer's voice to be heard.

Says Stokell, "The digital distribution revolution continues to reverberate and each industry has to adapt in order to take advantage of it. The genie is out of the bottle and it's not going back in. It's a double-edged sword. In the first instance, it allows authors and artists the freedom of making their work directly available to the public without the need for a middleman. But on the other hand, it brings into question the conventional revenue stream models and forces the industry to come up with new ways of generating income."

Such a paradigm shift in distribution has affected multiple industries, from music and film, to newspapers and book publishing.

Says Stokell, "First, digital availability of songs turned the music industry on its head. What has eventually evolved is that now, a huge percentage of songs are distributed digitally, for a set price."

Film is another industry affected and is finding it hard to adapt. Says Stokell, "That same digital distribution revolution hit the film industry hard. Funding of films has become even more difficult as conventional mechanisms of projecting revenue streams have been challenged as a result."

Digital and online has probably hit the mainstream newspaper industry the hardest. Says Stokell, "The online phenomenon and the move away from local print advertising has essentially destroyed the print newspaper industry. That is an industry that will essentially be a thing of the past within the next decade, although there will always be niche players."

That same digital revolution has now inevitably reached the book publishing industry. Adds Stokell, "While eBooks and the digital distribution of books account for barely 10 percent of the market, that percentage is only going to grow. As a result, the number of printed books is going to decline. However, that does not necessarily mean fewer books being read. They are just being read in a different format."

Concludes Stokell, "In this age of increasing competition for consumer time, you can't wait for your readers to come to you. In fact, the reverse is true. You have to make your work available for the reader where and when it is most convenient for them. Digital eBooks, and the Kindle platform for example, do exactly that."

Ian Stokell's short novel, "Rabbits and Trains," is available on Amazon's Kindle platform for 99 cents at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007I7OKTK.

Sliding Down Rainbows Entertainment, Inc., is the film production company of writer-producers Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson. For further information, please contact (310) 699-3021.

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