How To Keep UP & Survive in This Digital Age of Publishing

Writing, Reading, & Publishing Evolution

How does an author, reader or a publisher keep up with all the changes going on these days? One minute we think we have a plan for our careers, a successful business model, a preferred way to read books, and then we have to change, and change again, and again, just to keep our noses above the water line. For writers, how do make career plans when we’re not sure what the publishing landscape will look like in a year or two?

There’s no easy answer. The best advice? Be flexible, open to change and ready when opportunities arise. Read what experts have to say—those who have survived the business over the years and learned how to adapt. They may have sound advice on their blogs or in their newsletters. Many invite authors, editors and agents to their blogs to share what they know.

Go with your gut. There are many career paths for authors: traditional, self-publishing, small press or any combination (a hybrid) of the three. The bottom line is the same. Write a great book, continue to learn craft and grow as a writer, be professional. Don’t send out a crappy/unedited book whether to an agent, editor or to be self-published.

A few blogs I follow that I can recommend are:

Jane Friedman, editor of Virginia Quarterly Review and previous publisher of Writer’s Digest magazine http://janefriedman.com/ She has a variety of guest bloggers and helpful posts about the current publishing world and tips for writers.

http://janefriedman.com/blog/ I automatically get her blog posts sent to my email. She has a ton of great posts and guest posts on a variety of topics.

Also author Bob Mayer http://www.bobmayer.org/ and his blog: http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/ Especially helpful for the self-published author, writing tips, the business of publishing and much more.

And author and social media expert Don Lafferty  http://donaldlafferty.com/ Everything you ever wanted to know about social media and marketing and never knew existed.

I’m sure there are tons of great sites. Please share your favorite.