Image from: http://it.coe.uga.edu
Take a good look, folks. See that writer’s latest blog post in your feed? Soon, that smilin’ mug will grace a book jacket. We are the next generation of book authors. Glorious times, my friends, glorious times.
In the last six months, I’ve had several writers in my blog circle announce the securing of agents or the impending publication of a book that they have been slaving over for months (years). I’ve also seen familiar names bylined in articles in at least two different writing magazines. It occurs to me that we are all riding the same wave. Some will reach the shore long before others and some will get caught in the undertow and be carried back out to sea, only to start their journey anew. As I contemplated this wonderful scene, I realized that we live in amazing writing times.
This generation is and will be different from our contemporaries. The process is different, the options are certainly different and it is possible the very results will be different.
The Then And Now Of It All
The physical act
Then – Manual typewriters. Or IBM Selectrics for that matter. Great machines, but no delete key, darn it. Heck, some writers probably even tapped the keys on these puppies.
Now – People are writing the next NYT bestseller on their freakin’ iPhone while they ride the subway to their day job.
Correspondence
Then – Stamps, reams of paper, plenty of manila envelopes, white-out, SASEs, address books with outdated editor information. Waiting. Long periods of waiting. Crushing weeks of checking the mailbox for a thin envelope or a fattie.
Now – Geez, you can get rejected in less than twelve hours if you got the editor’s email address correct. Now THAT’s service.
Platform
Then – Endless local writer’s groups, posting flyers, making full use of the “pest as a platform” philosophy. Hey, once the pub deal is inked, now it’s the Publisher’s headache.
Now – Blogitty blogitty blog. Post the posts to make the most of who you be, to sell your novel-ty. Also known as author marketing. Go Feed your Friends through your Facebook while Twittering the latest Google Buzz. Yup. We have got it soooo easy to get ourselves marketed. The more you can get your name out there, especially in writing and publishing circles, the greater your chances of success.
The Book
Then – Hardcover? Size? Paper grade? Decisions to be made but the end result was always the same: A book!
Now – Hardcover? Perfect bound? Size? Paper grade? E-book?
Publish
Then – For the love of God, any publisher will do. Just get me a physical book! Vanity publish? – Pshaw!
Now – Traditional find an agent/editor send queries to the big houses. Publish as an e-book only. Hmmm, Apple or Amazon? Maybe a shotgun approach and publish in all ebook formats. Publish the first few chapters or the whole thing? Post a chapter at a time on the blog and then consolidate into an ebook? Take it to a POD and get the physical book in time to stuff those stockings at Christmas?
Okay, that’s probably enough silliness. You know, I started this post as a serious opinion piece about how lucky we are to be writing in this age with all of the tools that early writers could never imagine.
I took a left turn somewhere and landed right in the middle of Sillyville. Dang, I need to upgrade the GPS app on my smartphone.
Oh well. That’s how it goes sometimes.
My favorite part was the Correspondence section:
>Now – Geez, you can get rejected in less than twelve hours if you got the editor’s email address correct. Now THAT’s service.< LOL
Ganymeder,
Heh. Mine too!
Thanks for coming by.
George
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Hi George!
You nailed it. I have had these thoughts on my mind especially lately. I was pining away for my manual and electric typewriters a few days ago (love the clickety-clack). Then I thought about white out, the mimeograph, and my blasted error rate, and became incredibly thankful for my computer.
I agree with @ganymeder — that was a funny line.
.-= Lori (JaneBeNimble)´s last blog ..Front Porch: Bhangra, a Dingo, and a Beach – with John Anyasor =-.
Hi Lori,
I’m a clackity clack guy too! I even downloaded an app that makes the keyboard sound like a typewriter!
George
@Lori,
You got me thinking about the ads in Writer’s Digest that Bic used to run begging us not use the phrase “white out” when we meant “Wite Out correction fluid.” With the registered trademark symbol, I suppose.
I don’t subscribe to WD anymore and I wonder if the market for correction fluid has dried up to the point the ads aren’t worth the bother.
Write on,
Tammi
.-= Tammi Kibler´s last blog ..Writing Markets: Get Your Foot in the Door with Local Businesses =-.
Hey Tammi,
Great to see you here. I loved your post over at Sharon’s place.
I remember seeing the ads in WD as well. I’ve since kicked the subscription to the curb in favor of The Writer – which I really love.
Cheers!
George
@Lori – I meant to be funny not critical. Just thinking that the world has changed that much in ten years that probably no one is talking about the product enough to merit concern.
.-= Tammi Kibler´s last blog ..Writing Markets: Get Your Foot in the Door with Local Businesses =-.
No worries, Tammi. I was laughing with you! And, yes, it’s amazing what’s happened in ~ten years. I can remember, like it was yesterday, filling out college applications over and over b/c I kept making errors using my typewriter.
I like George’s idea of the clickety-clack app so we can hear the sound but not have to worry about the White Out (or, uh, I suppose I meant “Wite Out correction fluid”)
{laughing}
Hi George,
That is a fun post. I sooo remember the typewriter days, but I definitely don’t miss the whiteout – the smell made me sick – remember the little sheets of white stuff that you just stick in to type over.
Can’t imagine going that slow again!! Thank goodness for progress.
.-= Anne Tyler Lord´s last blog ..The Writer’s Life: Exercise Your Right Brain =-.
Anne,
Here here! The romantic in me envisions isolated mountain cabins with woodstoves, old typewriters and nothing but time. The realist in me says, “Yeah right. Get real.” Heh.
George
This are the best of times all right!
Thanks for leading the cheer… Go us!
.-= Marisa Birns´s last blog ..Dear Jesus Box =-.
Marisa,
“Go us!” I’m not sure why, but that is tickling the bee-geezes out of my funny bone.
George
Hello Geo!
And what of the sea change in the readers themselves?
Gone are the days of sitting at home in one’s smoking jacket, pipe in hand, investing hour upon hour with the classics.
Today, said reader can hardly find time to go to the bathroom, for fear that one of his many wireless devices will fire off just as he settles.
Gone are the cohesive families who insisted that their children read real books as part of a college-prep educational track.
Today, Dad sends a text to wifey, saying that he missed the last train home and he’ll have to stay “downtown.” BUT, he still has his Kindle or Nook or iPad in his backpack. And the kids can always use PayPal to crib an essay from some Web site.
Gone are the days of the Readers Digest Book Club.
Today, said reader anxiously toggles between RSS feeds of banal blogospheria, titilatingly tweeted Twitters, or trumpeting to his vast army of so-called friends on Facebook that he finally did have a gratifying experience in the bathroom.
Gone are the days when TV was only in black and white and going to the movies on Saturday cost fifty cents to see Lassie or Roy Rogers.
Today, little Jimmy is hunkered down in his anonymous Internet video game room, battling it out with some brain-drained Korean kid who doesn’t know a book from a Happy Meal and hasn’t slept or eaten for a week.
We are all partly to blame for this.
For letting “the media” hijack our minds.
For letting advertisers dictate the standards of personal style and what is tasteful.
For indulging our children and then wondering why they have to lie and cheat their way through life.
Writers need to once again become the activists that they used to be in the days of George Orwell or Hemmingway or Tolkien.
To not be afraid to write what has never been read before.
To create art with muscle.
Wayne,
I always get excited when I see that you’ve commented on a post. It’s because of your great perspective and a willingness to put it all out there.
As much as I would love nostalgia to rule my life, I know those days are gone. I think we can make small inroads with our children and we can still teach them right from wrong, but it is so hard to deal with wave after wave of peer pressure and advertising. Gotta have the latest Nintendo. Wha? You don’t watch SpongeBob? What is wrong with your family?
Your points here are valid, Wayne and should give folks pause.
Thanks for another great contribution.
George
I was going to make a comment similar to this but it seems you said it well enough. The quality is definitely a lot different nowadays and I wonder what it’s going to take to change it.
Great post though George, funny guy! I’m a lot like you though, part of me likes the idea of a secluded place with nothing but time, a stack of paper, and an old typewriter.
Thanks for coming by, Chris.
I wonder what will make things change as well. My fear is that something monumental will have to happen.
George
Maybe it shouldn’t be a fear, but a challenge.
We really are lucky, not just as writers, but as businesspeople too. I am still amazed that if you post something really good, it could potentially be in front of thousands of eyes within hours. And the great thing is that you can be on either end of this exchange.
Hey Brad,
Thanks for popping over.
The whole business aspect is another indicator of how fortunate we are in this age. I like your reminder that we could be on either end.
Cheers
George