Susquehanna Writers Internet Marketing (SWIM) has been quiet the past two weeks as holidays kept us busy with other things. We’re getting back in the saddle this Wednesday, January 5. We’ll meet as usual at the Mondragon book store on Market Street in Lewisburg, PA (12:30 PM). In case you haven’t been there: once you’re inside the main entrance, go up the stairs to the first landing and turn right. Pass the hallway that heads back along the right side of the stairs and find the first door on your right—it’s across from a window.
More Social Media Marketing in Central Pennsylvania
I’m planning to start a new SWIM session in January and am checking in with area writers’ groups to find out when the most people would be interested in attending. The new group will meet on a weeknight or weekend so it doesn’t conflict with work schedules. I’ll post meeting times if there’s enough interest. Please spread the word and ask interested writers to contact me.
SWIM already draws writers from the Sunbury and Selinsgrove area, but it’s within easy reach from Williamsport, Mifflinburg, Danville, and even Bloomsburg when you consider the quality and quantity of material we cover. Please: if you’re a writer within 40 miles of Lewisburg, get in touch to learn whether SWIM makes sense for you.
Publishing, the Internet, and Writers
I’m sure I sound like a broken record to some of you (Remember what a “record” is?), but I want to emphasize: The emerging publishing model is very simple: As an author you will have a direct relationship with your readers. Publishing companies that figure this out and make changes soon enough will become marketing and marketing support engines, but they will rarely print books. On-demand printing will accommodate people who demand ink on paper.
We’re already seeing that publishers prefer an author who has an impressive online presence. Some publishers are cutting back the marketing support for their own titles, relying more and more on authors to do the work online and through traditional means.
Aspiring writers today need to look ahead two to three years and see that self-publishing is the new road to success: Amazon is giving authors 70% of the revenue for sales of eBooks for the Kindle. Good luck getting 15% from a traditional publisher. The writer who can complete a book, build a following online, and sell the book through Internet Marketing and electronic distribution will sell books as more and more publishing companies go under.
And the Kindle? What’s available today is going to be obsolete within a year (guessing, but confident). eReaders will be full-color tablet computers that deliver multimedia content. Click an illustration and you’ll be watching video or browsing a photo library. Traditional publishers will get this wrong again and again before the emergent Internet publishing industry delivers designs and production technology that makes sense for this new reading platform.
Sure, traditional publishing will be around for a while, but opportunity for new authors will continue to diminish and only the most amazing work will find its way onto paper. In the meantime, authors who promote themselves online and who deliver their work electronically will have a leg up. You can quickly gain an edge against well-established authors who are allied with traditional publishers that still struggle to figure out this whole Internet thingy.
