Hypercompendia

Been thinking some more about the end result of working on a hypertext piece–aside from the satisfaction of finishing a project and the smile of a told tale

Maybe out for less than a decade (Joyce’s Afternoon, A Story came out in 1999), not a huge selection available, the hypertext format of story (including poetry) has likely only been exposed in college classrooms or in the trade among tech-minded and forward-thinking academics.  So that’s a small number of people who are aware of the format.  Do they seek out hypertext novels as their reading selections after their student days end?  Do they introduce others to the concept, look forward to new publications, discuss them at their reading groups, or in the office or over coffee with friends?

I’m not sure at this point if hypertext story is mentioned much less studied at below a college level, and there are tons of college graduates who either missed out on the phenomenon of hypertext fiction merely because they occupied the wrong space in time, or more current students who sidetracked the particular literature classes that presented Joyce or Jackson’s work.  Those of a certain age or education level will likely never realize what’s available then.

This is probably the best time for hypertext work, with the publishing business undergoing some major tremors and the advent of e-books, e-zines, and handheld readers.  Hypertext fiction (and non-fiction and poetry too) fits right into this era of changing direction.

So my question is this, in response to the "I hate reading a lot of text on a screen," and despite the efforts by Sony and others to enable a "book" to be held in hand, what is necessary to do to create the excitement for hypertext that it rightly deserves?