Author Hillary Carlip talks about her Click Lit novel Find Me I’m Yours, and how this is going to change the way we immerse ourselves into stories.

Find Me I’m Yours offers up a totally unique experience when you decide to dive into this world. It’s completely interactive, and allows for you to click through 33 different websites, watch videos, and even take polls to give the narrator your opinion.

The story is about Mags, a down-on-her-luck kind of girl who’s been having a spot of trouble lately. With her boyfriend. Her job. Her mom. Her brother. Basically her entire life. But there’s one bright spot on the horizon: Mr. WTF.

On a whim, Mags buys a camcorder from Craigslist and her entire life changes. Mr. WTF offers up a treasure hunt to find him, and Mags can’t give up the possibility of finding the love of her life. That is, if she can solve all the clues before the deadline! Read our review.

Interview with Hillary Carlip

Tell us five interesting things about yourself.

— I used to be a professional juggler and fire eater.
— I wrote Find Me I’m Yours — the entire book — while “wriking.” That’s what I call writing and hiking at the same time.
— I’ve never had a “straight job” in my entire life. When I was 14, I vowed I would never be a waitress (though I have the utmost respect for women and men who work in the restaurant field!)
— I’m obsessed with fonts.
— I love “message spotting” — that’s when I notice something speaking to exactly what’s going on with me at the time — in street art, found lists, random signs, etc.

What was the initial thought that sparked the idea for this story?

The thought that sparked the story was many years ago. I was sent on a treasure hunt throughout L.A. for my birthday. It was an incredible adventure, and I always wanted to use the idea of it in a book. The initial spark for the transmedia, multi-platform approach came in 1999, when I co-founded a dot com that was all about digital entertainment. After a meeting one day, I wrote on a piece of paper “interactive book,” even though eBooks were hardly in the lexicon yet. Over the years I thought about it often, and finally, the time felt right.

How do you think transmedia projects like this will change the way we consume and interact with forms of entertainment?

We already interact with entertainment much more nowadays than ever before. As an avid reader, I know that when you get immersed in a book, you don’t want it to end. So that’s what I’ve done with Find Me I’m Yours — offer endless ways for readers to enjoy additional original material, opportunities for them to share their own content (artwork, stories, songs, apologies, wishes, etc.), interact, connect, and personally engage with a story that doesn’t have to end for them. This approach, which we have named CLICK LIT, offers new ways to experience entertainment.

Is this the way of the future, or do you believe this will always be a niche market?

I would say both. I think more and more people will want to interact with stories this way. But by the same token, I will always love print books and the experience of reading something contained. It’s just great for people to have options and choose how they want to experience a story.

Which was more challenging, coming up with the clues and answers for the treasure hunt, or building and incorporating the websites, videos, polls, and pictures into the story?

The clues were complicated, but I’ve always been a sleuth at heart so that part was fun. It was definitely more of a challenge to not only come up with, design, and build all the websites and interactive elements, but to integrate them into the book in a way that keeps readers in the story and enhances the experience rather than distracts from it.

You did a lot of the work on FMIY yourself, but a lot of other people contributed to this project. Did you have to micromanage because you had a solid idea of how you wanted this to turn out, or did everyone add their own bits and pieces to the book, allowing it to grow on its own?

Excellent question! Well the book was all me, and the sites were all designed by me. My partner Maxine came in, and she has been overseeing the content on the sites, and producing and directing the web series for some of the sites. We both definitely had to micromanage at first to make sure those who work with us maintain the tone, vibe, aesthetic, etc. But once they started getting it, our team — which we hand-picked and have worked really hard with to make sure they are clear on the vision — is now helping expand the project in really exciting ways we never dreamed of.

Can we expect more projects like FMIY from you and your team?

Absolutely! We will continue to expand the “storyverse” of Find Me I’m Yours with continual new content. With our newly launched company, Storyverse Studios, Maxine and I will also be doing projects for other creators who want to expand a core property (book, TV show, or film) into a fully interactive universe on multiple platforms.

If you had to pick one picture, video, or website from this book that is your absolute favorite, which would it be?

Acch . . . that’s a really hard thing to do. So I’ll at least narrow it down to one in each category! I’d have to say my fave pic in the book is of the stranger Mags meets in Runyon Canyon who has a connect the dots tattoo on his arm. She snaps it and posts it on her Instagram. Fave video would have to be the first one Mags finds in the old school camera she buys off of Craigslist. It’s of the stranger she dubs Mr. WTF, and it sets her off on the treasure hunt. And as for the site, the main hub — www.findmeimyours.com — shows ALL the sites, so that way people can check it out and pick their OWN fave!

About Hillary Carlip

Find Me I’m Yours is the fifth book written by best-selling, award-winning author Hillary Carlip (À la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers, Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stores From a Life Unaccording to Plan, Zine Scene, Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out). As a visual artist, her work has been sold in galleries and shown alongside Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst in a five-city museum exhibit. Hillary has been creating content, websites, and news in the digital space since 1999. The New York Times declared, “Ms. Carlip’s curriculum vitae reads like a CliffsNotes version of American Popular culture,” and the Chicago Tribune called Hillary, “Gloriously idiosyncratic.” For more information please visit http://findmeimyours.com, and follow on Facebook and Twitter.