Seven Blog Posts I Didn’t Write in 2009
25 Jan
Over the course of the year I bookmark lots of articles, websites, and whatnot with every intention of turning those choice items into even choicer blog posts.
For a variety of reasons (which, by the way, my voice recognition software often interprets as “for a Friday of reasons”) many of these items never make the final cut.
And so let us take a moment to recognize and to celebrate what was almost good enough in 2009.
1. Authonomy
HarperCollins is experimenting with an online slush pile/social network/American Idol contest called Authonomy. While trying to write about this site I could never figure out if it was the Future or merely a curiosity born out of fear and desperation. (I suppose it could be both!)
2. Will Work For Praise
This BusinessWeek article caught my eye because it talks about — at least in a tangential way — part of the dark side of being a writer. As the article notes, we’ll happily do creative work for free as long as it gets us a little attention. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to take this concept and talk about larger economic and cultural forces or merely riff on how sad our profession has become, so I just let it go.
3. Self-Publishing Review
For a while I was working on a trend piece about the coming legitimacy of self-publishing. The point I was going to make was something about how if mainstream publishers continue to offer their authors less and less — and if self-publishing can acquire the rigors of traditional publishing — then our whole conception of what “real” publishing is will change. But I only got as far as finding this cool link for a website that seeks to elevate the standards of self-publishing.
4. The Book is dead, the Book will live on, blah, blah, blah
Somewhere in the middle of 2009 I decided to swear off the whole FUTURE OF THE BOOK conversation. (Too many cooks!) That said, the Institute for the Future of the Book’s if:book blog is a nice clearinghouse. And the unsinkable Jonathan Karp’s article This Is Your Wake-Up Call: 12 Steps to Better Book Publishing is a nice, um, wake-up call.
5. Good and Bad Procrastination
Sometimes you set out to write a post and in doing research for said post you discover that someone else has done a good enough job of writing it already. My post on good versus bad procrastination falls into this category. Hit it, Paul Graham!
6. Will My Video Get 1 Million Views on YouTube?
Still other times you set out to write a post (like, say, what the number of hits on your YouTube video means) and quickly find out that in order to write said post you’d have to do so much legwork that it wouldn’t be worth it. Then two days later Slate up and publishes a thoughtful, well-researched piece about the very same subject. Problem solved.
7. 10 Hallmarks of Amateur Recording
The final entry for my 2009 anti-roundup roundup comes courtesy of Des McKinney’s Hometracked blog. His post on the ten hallmarks of amateur recording had me inspired to do a similar post about the 10 hallmarks of amateur writing. Except I wasn’t going to merely copy his idea but instead create some kind of cross-disciplinary bridge between his world and mine. Then I remembered how smart you are and realized that given the opportunity you could figure it out for yourself.
Thanks again to all the readers of this blog for a memorable 2009. Here’s to the increased furtherance of awesomeness in 2010.
Regarding your “unwritten” post on self-publishing, I would like to point out that publishing is something done by people with the means to do so.
Doesn’t that sound silly? It’s sort of a circular reference, isn’t it? Back in the days of print, before there were electronic publishers, the only people who published were the people who have the means to reproduce their copy on some medium, such as paper or lambskin. When someone wanted to get something published, they had to appeal to the likes and dislikes of the publisher or have the means to hire someone to print it for them.
However, it’s important to remember that the idea of getting a book published also embodies the process of getting the book distributed to people who will sell it. Today’s book publishers often seem to have an inside track on book distribution.
With the advent of the World Wide Web, publishing has become electronic, which has thrown the whole distribution game wide open. Suddenly there are new players in the market hungry for electronic books to sell.
Nevertheless, what’s really at the root of the stigma that is attached to “self-publishing”? Why does it so often seem to be regarded as low-quality publishing?Perhaps the big name publishers somehow promote that myth in order to further their own sales.
It’s interesting to note that if you look back at some of the books we consider classics today, the authors were actually publishers themselves. Not only did they publish other people’s works, but also their own. For some reason, some of these works are now considered classics. The question is, would they have been published at all if the authors had not also been the publishers?
My advice is to follow the example of these people: attempt to own the means of production whenever possible. If you know your market, this is the clearest path to success. If you can’t own the means of production, at least know your market. If your access is blocked, find another way in.
After all, if you have a desire to say something that is truly important, isn’t it better to get it into the hands of those who are truly interested in reading it?
Lastly, you may note in reading between the lines of what I’ve said above, that I have omitted any reference to making money off of what you have written. Should you be willing to write for free?
If you understand your market, and your desire is to get something said, then it may be necessary to get it published without charging money for the work.
On the other hand, if your desire is to make money by working as a writer, it may be necessary for you to write about something other than your heart’s desire. Again, if you understand your market, you can learn how to serve the needs of the market through your writing abilities.
Sometimes it’s not possible to make money by writing about your heart’s desire, but that does not mean that publishing the work yourself in order that people can read it makes it any less of an important work.
Do what you love, and the money will follow.
All good points, sir.
I think the author/publisher role may indeed be making a comeback.
Perhaps a group of writers could form some kind of collective where they enforce mutually agreed upon standards, cross-promote their stuffs, etc.
That could be pretty cool with the right people.
Still, there are a lot of headaches that a traditional publisher takes on. Not sure I’m ready to abandon ship just yet.