The public library is one of the fundamental pillars of our peculiar flavor of democracy, and yet, recent events in both political and publishing circles suggest that our commitment to them is wavering. And there's certainly no shortage of opinions about their place in the "digital future," some optimistic, but most some ignorant variation on "Who needs libraries when we have Kindles, Netflix and Wikipedia?"
Of course, last week’s much hyped and completely vague announcement of Bookish, a new joint venture between three of the “Big 6? – Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Group — caught my attention, not for its unusual (but not unprecedented) collaborative angle, but for its disappointingly unimaginative and shortsighted value proposition.
Stories just as powerful and compelling as those Waiting for Superman put in the spotlight are confined to the printed page instead of being unleashed across multiple platforms for people to connect with, share with others, and inspire action.
"Just do it!" was definitely an underlying theme of the day as the deceptively sexy notion of the "democratization" of content creation and distribution was frequently noted, but I realized towards the end of the day, what was missing was any reference to the issue of access, and the ever-widening digital divide.
Every argument that begins with “But most readers…” ignores the reality that the Internet has made micro-marketing not only viable, but also enables a publishing program to be more sustainable, focusing on quality over quantity.
All good things do eventually come to an end, and for me, on the heels of an amazingly successful DBW11, I realized I was coming upon a crucial fork in the road, and while the DBW path will surely continue to be an exciting one for those continuing on, it’s one I realized would ultimately take me away from my true passion: Books, Authors, Readers and the myriad connections still to be made between them.
It doesn't matter if you're an aspiring writer, traditionally published or going the DIY route, marketing is every writer's responsibility, and it takes the same level of commitment, dedication and self-discipline as sitting down and actually writing does.