The Demise of Writing as We Know it (!)(?)

In a textbook called The New Literacies, I read the following sentence:

“It is even possible to conceive of a future in which all paper-and-pencil literacies are replaced by digital literacies.”

We have seen the advent of this already…How many of you have a Kindle? (My hand is raised. I, in fact, LOVE my Kindle. And not only do I have a Kindle Paperwhite, I have the Kindle app on my Android phone and Android tablet. But I digress.)

What this sentence is saying goes beyond the shift from paperbacks to e-book readers. These authors suggest that in the future, humans will no longer write long-form essays and stories. They will create content digitally through photos, other graphics, music, and sound…maybe with the assistance of some words, but not necessarily in sentences. And not necessarily lines of verse, either. Possibly just a word here or there to accentuate the other media being used.

This prompted me to look up the definition of “to write”:

“to form (as characters or symbols) on a surface with an instrument (as a pen).”

This could also be applied to typing letters on a computer, and I suppose it could also cover the process of putting other types of symbols together (other than letters) to communicate a message. In this case, using digital media to communicate a message or story could be like a form of writing.

Will digital media eventually replace writing as we know it?

"Borneo: Memory of the Caves"

My first reaction to this is "No! We cannot and we will not lose writing!" When I pause to reflect on it, this doesn't seem like an outrageous trajectory for the writing process. Human's written communication skills have evolved from cave drawings to what it is now because of new tools and technologies, so it makes sense that it will continue to evolve.

If that is the case, what do you suppose that means for the future of writers? Do you think in the future, instead of writing this blog post, I will communicate it to you in a series of photos and audio? Some blogs and websites already do this.

In the future, instead of writing a novel, will it be read aloud (like an audiobook) with a companion series of images or video (maybe like a really long movie)?

What might the future hold for writers given the changes in technology? I do not anticipate that in my lifetime I will see the demise of the novel as we currently know it…but what might it look like in a 100 years from now?

By Anne Greenawalt: writer, writing instructor, and Adult Education doctoral student

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4 comments Anne Greenawalt, digital text, print vs e-book

Self-Publishing for a Writers' Conference

From a blank screen to a sales tool,
writers can market themselves from
within a writers' group.
Photo credit | Elizabeth Humphrey

I'm a presenter at an upcoming November conference and have started preparing. But some writers I know are going to the same conference and they've been preparing for even longer than I have!

There's this great idea that I've been on the periphery of (unfortunately, I can't claim it as my own good idea!) that you might get some mileage out of with your writers' group.

A group of women in a writers group have been polishing their prose and poetry, and passing their writing among themselves. Then they pooled their money to create a professional-looking, printed book compilation.

Because they started early enough, the group has had time to proof the PDF files and request a printed proof to check for any problems. (And have enough time to fix any problems.)

During the development stage, the ladies assigned each member of the group different duties--one collected author photos, one handled the cover designer, another was in charge of the technical specifications, and one person took care of reporting back to the book designer (in this case, me!).

Out of the dozens of self-publishing places on the Internet, the group contacted CreateSpace for printing and getting the ISBN numbers.

With the group's forward thinking, each one will have a professional sample to show an interested agent and none had to learn the technology or take on the cost solo. This way, each one can--confidently--present a professional book that shows dedication to her writing craft.

What have you done with a group that has helped market your writing?

Elizabeth King Humphrey is an editor and writer living in Wilmington, NC. She dabbles in a lot of different things, including cooking and book design.

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4 comments conference, conference dos and don'ts, Elizabeth King Humphrey, print vs e-book, writers groups

Is E-publishing Helping or Hurting Authors?

by Brooke Warner

The rise of digital publishing has completely changed the landscape of how we consume content. That e-books have surpassed and continue to surpass the sales of hardcover books has been newsworthy more than a few times this year. Most people, even industry professionals who ten years ago were prematurely mourning the ways in which digital publishing would make paper books obsolete, agree that digital publishing has actually revived publishing. It’s given non-readers a whole new platform for reading, and it’s proven that certain demographics—older women and professional men—are in fact buying more books than ever.

The question of whether it’s helping or hurting authors, however, is a little more nuanced. I’ve previously made the case for why all authors want to publish paperback versions of their books. And publishing a digital version simultaneous to a paperback version is status quo for traditional publishers at this stage of the game. So where the nuance comes in really has to do with e-only publishing. I only advocate e-only (by which I mean you opt to publish a digital but not a print version of your book) in very specific scenarios:

1. You're a business owner looking to build visibility for yourself and your business and you publish an e-book to use primarily for promotional purposes.

2. You’re an already well-known author who has a big following and want to publish something short and sweet (in the 5,000- to 10,000-word range) for your readers—and you know they’ll come.

3. You’re publishing a few chapters of a longer book in an e-only format several months (but no more than a year) before the full print (and digital) book is released for the purposes of gauging readers’ interest and/or building buzz for the bigger book.

4. You’re in the business of producing quick e-books as products, making use of key words to encourage impulse buys in what closely approximates a get-rich-quick scheme.

The above reasons are good reasons to publish digital formats without a print counterpart. All of them have to do with increasing visibility (i.e., growing your platform) or making money.

You can make good money with e-books, but only if you follow the low word-count model. If you have a traditional-length book (60,000–100,000), that’s a book you want to see in print. Because Amazon essentially forces authors to price their e-books at $9.99 or less, the vast majority of authors aren’t making big bucks off of their e-books (unless they’re a scenario #2 author, like Stephen King or Ann Patchett).

By the time you’ve written 60,000 to 100,000 words, you’ve put a lot of work into your book. I’ve worked with a lot of authors who’ve trimmed down their 100,000-word books to 80,000 and published the other 20,000 as Kindle edition books. Smart business!

The only way to make digital publishing work for you is to use it in tandem with print publishing. Digital publishing isn’t hurting authors, unless they don’t understand that it’s supplemental. E-publishing has not surpassed print publishing, and it will be a good long while before it does.

If being an author is part of your long-term goal for yourself—whether exclusively or in conjunction with what you already do—you need to value print publishing as king and use digital publishing to your advantage. Yes, I’m pretty much saying honor the former and use the latter. When you make digital publishing work for you, it will never harm you, but if you start to believe that it’s anything more than a stepping stone, or perhaps a quick way to make a few bucks (when you do it right), then it can be detrimental to your long-term publishing goals.

***

About the Author:

Brooke Warner is founder of Warner Coaching Inc. and publisher of She Writes Press. Brooke’s expertise is in traditional and new publishing, and she is an equal advocate for publishing with a traditional house and self-publishing. What’s Your Book? A Step-by-Step Guide to Get You from Inspiration to Published Author is her first book, and she’s honored to be publishing on She Writes Press.

Find Brooke online:

www.warnercoaching.com
www.shewritespress.com
www.facebook.com/warnercoaching
twitter.com/brooke_warner
www.pinterest.com/warnercoaching

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9 comments Brooke Warner, digital publishing, e-book publishing, print vs e-book, She Writes Press, What's Your Book?