2 posts tagged “poems”

Do we as authors write for the sake of writing and doing nothing else?  Or are we compelled to craft stories, poems and essays and whatever publicity writing is required of us to get our creative work into the hands of readers? Are we willing to break with tradition and submit our work to venues on the internet in an effort to achieve our goals of publication? Are we willing to abandoned tried, but not always true, methods that have and do not always show respect for what we have written, and the time that we have invested into refining our words?

Working with the internet, not unlike when we write to hone our fiction writing skills, involves large amounts of writing.  And sometimes publicizing our work over the internet may seem like we are giving ourselves away, or worse yet, handing our writing to the public for free.  Then again we know how often publishing companies have and still do get rights to the works of new authors for bargain basement prices—work that the publishing companies own in perpetuity, even if they allow the author’s book to go out of print.

Studying the internet for the purposes of learning how to market one’s writing would seem in keeping with the entire purpose of working toward becoming an author, traditionally published or under one’s own auspices.

The writing and publishing worlds, two distinct mediums that together form the universe of selling books, move at a snail’s pace along the path of change. Publishing companies bemoan the drop in sales of books, and authors take the financial brunt of this phenomenon that traditionalists in the publishing world say results from the rise of companies like amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and many like companies or individuals that sell books over the internet, and at cheaper prices. These individuals and companies who sell books over the internet also make out-of-print books otherwise unattainable through traditional bookstores accessible to the readers like you and me where as chain book stores and independent ones cater mainly to new and commercial titles.

With all this calling out to us, and the ability to respond at our fingertips, why are we not paying attention?

Whether MFA programs come to teach any courses in internet marketing for fiction writers, or weekly writing groups become places for participants to critique not only the stories we craft, but also how we choose to market them, we as writers must take the lead if we are to survive as both writers/authors/poets/essayists and entrepreneurs whose business it is to market and sell or words. Musicians have taken the lead with graphic artists and painters following. Authors, published and those toiling for the holy grail of seeing their words in print have no other choice. Perhaps one day the discussions of writing group participants will include offering tips on which blog lists we can join or use to publicize information about our new and or recent publication.

As authors we must write, not only our stories, but also on our blogs, press releases and synopses for the purpose of bringing attention to our works.

We must also write with seriousness and commitment—whatever we craft.

Now, unlike in years and decades past, consumers want and demand a taste of what we have to say before they shell out money for a copy of our book that they are most likely to purchase over the internet at a price cheaper than had they gone to the neighborhood bookstore.

In all my years of writing, to craft my stories and then writing to improve my skills at crafting stories no one ever talked about the amount of writing a published author must do in an effort to publicize her or his works.

Perhaps that is because when I started writing stories, and in the years that followed wherein I labored at refining my skills at crafting fiction, no one, at least not those of us in my writing classes, realized the grasp that the internet would take on our lives, as both consumers, and anyone working to reach consumers.

I began writing seriously twelve years ago, although unbeknownst to me my apprenticeship in the field had actually begun three years prior.

During the years since, we in America have gone from exhibiting a continuum of timidity toward conducting basic social functions of meeting other individuals on-line among the few trailblazers who jumped at the opportunity to conduct various financial matters over the internet, to a society that now lives, breathes, learns and creates and communicates with family and community on-line.  
                                                                      
The internet is what connects us with the world, like it or not, and our dreams, and ourselves.  No reputable businessperson would attempt to sell anything today without first establishing an internet presence. Whenever we hear of someone, whether by word-of-mouth, over the radio or see them on television, we look to the internet for information that legitimizes what we have been told.  No longer do the traditional forms of media, newspapers, television, and magazines satiate our appetites always craving to know the latest on who is who and what is going on about them.

Yet the internet and its assistance to authors, especially fiction writers, is rarely, if ever discussed in writing circles, and little to none in institutions teaching us to refine our skills at creating stories—MFA Programs in Writing and the like. Even the non-traditional, low-residency programs, speak little of it--academic institutions where the use of the internet maintains of the viability and usage of such programs, speak little of this important and vital information we must acquire, better yet, develop a working knowledge of how it intersects with and influences our ability as aspiring writers to sell our product—stories, novels, essays, poems, etc.

Why is this?

I suppose as with any and everyone, change forces us to look at ourselves, and what we are about. More importantly it asks of us who we are, and tests the fiber of our commitment to what it is we say we are about.

The internet puts literary artists to the test. How much are we willing to part with the words we craft and hone into stories and essays, both conveying our thoughts and feelings toward the larger effort of getting our message out to the world? Or did we choose this art form as a way to work out the question of identity at the expense of readers who purchase our books?