The Future of the Book:
formats, immersion, and the barriers to streaming literature
As streaming dominates leisure time in Australia and Indonesia, this report examines the digital formats reshaping how stories are consumed, the design principles behind immersive reading experiences, and the legal and cultural obstacles preventing books from achieving the reach of film and music.
Books in the age of streaming
Digital storytelling is no longer a single medium. From ePub files to narrative video games, the formats available for consuming literature today span a wide spectrum of interactivity, accessibility, and immersion. Yet books remain stubbornly outside the mainstream of streamed leisure consumption.
This report was produced by a student research team in ARTS3121 at Macquarie University, in partnership with Poddium and its reading platform Librery. The research investigates four interconnected questions: what digital formats exist today and what are their UX limitations; how books might be experienced more immersively; what structural barriers prevent books from being streamed like movies or music; and what legal frameworks govern AI and copyright in digital literary platforms operating across Australia and Indonesia.
The findings are intended to inform Poddium's continued product development, particularly as Librery evolves its EPUB reading engine and interactive storytelling capabilities.
"Effective digital storytelling requires a balance between sensory engagement and usability: too many interactive features can distract from narrative coherence."
What exists today: a landscape of formats
Digital storytelling now encompasses interactive eBooks, visual novels, webcomics, narrative video games, and live-play experiences. Each format offers a distinct approach to engaging audiences, with different trade-offs between accessibility, interactivity, and creative control.
ePub (.epub), the most widely adopted open standard, offers reflowable text that adapts to different screen sizes, making it accessible across devices. PDF (.pdf) preserves exact formatting, benefiting graphically intensive content like comics or illustrated children's books, but its rigidity makes it poorly suited to mobile reading. Proprietary formats like Amazon's AZW3 and the older Mobi lock readers into specific ecosystems, limiting distribution and reader choice.
Visual novels and interactive fiction platforms like Twine, Ren'Py, and Ink allow readers to make narrative choices, resulting in branching storylines and player-driven outcomes. Webtoon-style formats, hosted on platforms like LINE Webtoon or Tapas, use a vertical scrolling interface optimised for smartphones, prioritising accessibility and community engagement through integrated commenting and sharing tools.
Across all these forms, JavaScript remains the foundational web technology that supports interactivity, enabling branching paths, animation, adaptive layouts, and multimedia integration. Because it runs natively in browsers, JavaScript allows creators to deliver interactive stories that are both dynamic and accessible across platforms, making it the most flexible and scalable option for web-based storytelling (PeerDH, n.d.).
Limitations of current formats: where UX breaks down
Each interactive format introduces unique UX challenges relating to readability, performance, and accessibility. Heavy multimedia integration, long load times, and inconsistent performance across devices can significantly affect the user experience.
JavaScript-based storytelling environments excel at providing real-time feedback, dynamic layouts, and adaptive design. However, large file sizes and excessive scripting can slow page performance, while inconsistent browser compatibility reduces usability. Accessibility remains a persistent concern: multimedia-rich content may exclude users with limited internet bandwidth or assistive needs.
Readability becomes a challenge when interactivity competes with the flow of the story. DesignRush (2025) notes that scrollytelling works best when visual effects support rather than overwhelm textual content. Maintaining legibility and ensuring intuitive navigation are essential to keeping users engaged.
Best practice follows progressive enhancement principles: the story's text and core navigation should remain functional even without advanced scripting, with multimedia elements layered as optional enhancements. Providing clear affordances (hover highlights, clickable icons) improves user comprehension, while adherence to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 ensures inclusivity across devices and abilities.
How books can be consumed immersively
Addressing the limitations of static eBooks requires rethinking digital reading UX from the ground up. A prototype developed using Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a test case demonstrates how atmospheric layering, asynchronous multimedia, and mobile-native navigation can create genuinely immersive prose experiences.
Rather than abrupt page wipes, the prototype reveals text letter-by-letter in a "magic mirror" effect, creating a sense of gradual unfolding. Transitions between sections allow text to float out of existence, maintaining narrative flow and reducing the cognitive jarring of traditional pagination. Text and image transitions operate independently through asynchronous multimedia layering, respecting variable reading speeds: fast readers aren't held back by animations, while slower readers aren't rushed by images that disappear before they've absorbed the text.
Frankenstein benefits particularly from this approach. The novel's gothic atmosphere (storms, isolation, obsession) gains depth through subtle soundscapes of distant thunder, wind, and melancholic strings. Transitions to black between chapters mirror the novel's shifts in narrator and time. Crucially, these enhancements remain optional and non-intrusive: a reader who prefers pure text can disable audio and still experience smooth, continuous reading flow.
The technical constraints of web-based JavaScript development, often seen as barriers, become design principles that serve diverse readers. Simpler interactions reduce cognitive load. Performance-conscious design ensures compatibility across device capabilities. Web-based delivery eliminates download barriers, allowing instant access without app store gatekeeping or storage concerns.
"The multimedia elements serve the prose rather than competing with it, addressing the passive consumption problem without transforming the book into something it's not."
Why books don't stream: barriers across two markets
Streaming platforms dominate leisure time in both Australia and Indonesia. Understanding why books remain outside this mainstream requires examining the structural, economic, and cultural factors at play in each market.
Streaming platforms now dominate most Australians' leisure time. 91% of Australians used online services to watch video content in 2024, up from 83% in 2023 (ACMA, 2024), while music streaming reached nearly 19 million subscribers by mid-2025. Reading for pleasure faces practical barriers: many Australians want to read more but are deterred by lack of time, general distractions, and the higher cognitive effort reading requires compared to passive screen consumption (The Guardian, 2025).
Structural factors amplify the gap. Streaming platforms invest heavily in promotion, driving growth in film production and household budgets for video subscriptions. This reinforces consumption patterns that favour visual media. In contrast, national reading surveys highlight stagnant or declining recreational reading rates, with recreational reading struggling to compete against the convenience and commercial momentum of streaming (Australia Reads, 2021).
91% of Australians watch online video content, up 8 percentage points in a single year (ACMA, 2024)
National literacy campaigns exist but recreational reading rates remain stagnant, with competition from streaming cited as a key factor (Australia Reads, 2021)
Time poverty, cognitive effort, and the convenience of short-form audiovisual content in modern multitasking habits
Netflix grew to 6.4 million AU subscribers by mid-2025; streaming investment creates a self-reinforcing cycle favouring visual media (Telsyte, 2025)
In Indonesia, reading culture carries deep historical significance, with manuscripts and literature long valued as central to cultural identity. However, the rapid rise of digital streaming and lifestyle changes has eroded this tradition. NOW! Jakarta (2025) documents how Indonesia's reading culture, once of great cultural importance, has declined with digital entertainment but is now showing signs of revival.
Scholarly evidence confirms the pattern. A study by Kurniasih (2017) found that although Indonesia's literacy rate is relatively high, only around 10% of the population engages in regular reading. A systematic review by Putra et al. (2023) found that widespread smartphone use and streaming among Indonesian students has significantly reduced time allocated to reading for both academic and leisure purposes. Digital entertainment, including short-form video and article reading, is substituting long-form print engagement.
Only approximately 10% of the Indonesian population engages in regular reading despite a relatively high overall literacy rate (Kurniasih, 2017)
Reading historically held deep significance in Indonesian culture; a revival is emerging alongside digital media adoption (NOW! Jakarta, 2025)
Smartphone and streaming platform use among students has displaced both leisure and academic reading (Putra et al., 2023)
Growing digital platform adoption creates an opening for mobile-first reading products that meet users where they already are
AI in digital publishing: opportunities, risks, and the law
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming digital publishing, offering tools for content generation, personalisation, and workflow automation. For a platform like Poddium, understanding AI's potential as well as its ethical, legal, and workforce implications is essential to responsible product development.
AI as a creative tool for Poddium
Within a digital storytelling platform, AI can function as an advanced creative assistant, capable of generating text, character interactions, soundtracks, and imagery. Lo Duca's (2023) AI-DaSt framework demonstrates how large language models can be combined with image generation to produce rich, engaging narrative entries, directly applicable to platforms combining text and visual storytelling.
McCormack et al. (2019) note that AI can "delight their authors in what they produce," making it a compelling tool for collaborative creative work. However, AI's ability to generate realistic imagery and text in seconds creates economic pressure on creative professionals, threatening traditional freelance and studio roles and forcing continuous upskilling (McCormack et al., 2019).
AI in the Australian context
Australia's AI ecosystem grew significantly between 2015 and 2024, with AI-related patents nearly quadrupling from 170 in 2015 to 629 in 2024 (NAIC, 2025). AI research output rose from 5.3% to 11.6% of total scholarly publications over the same period, though Australia's share of global research output declined from 2.6% to 1.9% as global AI research surged by approximately 218%.
A Parliamentary inquiry found that generative AI poses a serious risk to employment in the creative industries (Parliament of Australia, 2024). Low-paid workers face disproportionate risk: workers in clerical roles are at 14 times the risk of job displacement compared to higher-paid workers (Ellingrud et al., 2023), with women particularly affected due to their overrepresentation in these roles. McKinsey projects that AI could contribute between 0.1 to 1.1% additional annual labour productivity growth in Australia by 2030, with an estimated economic contribution of AU $115 billion annually by the same year (Tech Council Australia, 2023).
"AI should be supported, rather than replace, human judgment, with clear guidelines, bias mitigation, and data security to preserve publishing integrity."
Copyright: Indonesia
In Indonesia, digital literary platforms are governed by Law No. 28 of 2014 on Copyrights. Under Article 40(1)(a), literary works including published written works are protected. Platforms must obtain a written licence under Article 80, specifying distribution and reproduction rights, and must preserve author attribution under Article 7. Royalties are required under Articles 80 and 82-83 unless otherwise agreed. Copyright infringement carries significant penalties under Article 112.
Copyright: Australia
In Australia, eBook platforms are governed by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Under s 31, all literary works in tangible form are protected. Platforms must secure written licence agreements from copyright holders to exercise rights under ss 31-32. The number of copies released at any time must be monitored, with mistreatment prohibited under ss 116-122. Unauthorised sharing, copying, or distribution carries serious civil and criminal penalties under ss 115-122.
Australia's copyright framework provides specific, detailed obligations for digital literary platforms. All literary works in tangible form are protected under s 31. Platforms must secure written licence agreements from copyright holders to exercise the protected rights, including reproduction and distribution. Monitoring of copy counts and compliance policies against unauthorised sharing are required.
s 31: All literary works in tangible form are protected; written licence required to exercise rights
ss 31-32: Written agreement from copyright holder; rights must be clearly specified and cannot be verbally revoked
ss 116-122: Number of copies released must be tracked; mistreatment of these rules is prohibited
ss 115-122: Unauthorised sharing, copying, or distribution carries serious civil and criminal penalties
Indonesia's copyright law is broad in scope but provides essential protections for literary works. Platforms must obtain written licences specifying distribution and reproduction rights, preserve author attribution, pay royalties, and implement policies preventing unauthorised use. Given the breadth of the legislation, seeking qualified legal advice before commencing any digital literary database is strongly advised.
Article 40(1)(a): Literary works including published written works are protected; copyright is an exclusive right of the author (Article 1(1))
Article 80: Written licence required from copyright holder; must specify distribution and reproduction rights
Article 7: Author name, title, and work information must not be removed, changed, or damaged
Article 112: Copyright infringement carries significant penalties; compliance policies are mandatory
What Poddium should do: six actionable directions
Based on the research findings across format analysis, immersive reading design, market barriers, and legal compliance, the team proposes the following recommendations for Poddium's product and policy development.
About this research: ARTS3121 at Macquarie
This report was produced by a student research team in ARTS3121 at Macquarie University as part of the PACE (Professional and Community Engagement) program, in partnership with Poddium.
The team gratefully acknowledges the guidance of Dr. Sarah Keith at Macquarie University and the support of Octa Nurhasanah and the Poddium team as industry partner for this project.
About ARTS3121: ARTS3121 is a Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) unit at Macquarie University in which students undertake applied research projects in partnership with industry and community organisations.
Disclaimer: This document represents student research produced in partnership with Poddium and should not be construed as formal legal advice. Readers are encouraged to consult qualified practitioners for jurisdiction-specific guidance.