Tango Collection Plus

Working from home you develop a special relationship with the postman. Your ears become attuned to the whirr of their motorbikes, the creak of the mail slot and the gentle thump of a letter arriving. This is the symphony of procrastination.
This week the thump was not so gentle as a package arrived from the publicity people at Allen & Unwin. It was an advance of the Tango Collection, an anthology of the excellent romance comic that won't be in stores until December. Bernard Caleo is the genius editor/illustrator/writer/male model behind Tango, collecting some of Australia's best comics in a bumper edition that tackles 'Love and...'.
This plump package arrived wrapped in brown paper (very much in keeping with the DIY craftiness of the original Tango) bound in a custom comic strip by Caleo himself. It was a nice little bonus that should make it into bookstores even if booksellers find it an annoying gimmick.
The survival of the book as a physical artefact will mean more 'books plus' ideas - anything that celebrates the physical form (especially artwork) and gives physical readers a bonus. The music industry has recently clawed back sales for physical music with deluxe editions of CDs that give listeners a little more: extra tracks, a video or a booklet that features artwork you can't get anywhere else. There could be some tips for book publishers here.
But the shark has well and truly been jumped for the physical object when a band re-releases music to support its video game, which is the case with The Beatles Rockband and the re-mastering of their back catalogue to push it. There's no thrill of the postie or serendipity of unwrapping when you download from iTunes.