Yeah, I said it. Agents might go extinct. Booksellers might too. Even publishers. But writers- nope. It is just not going to happen. Look at all of the words, all of the sentences. They're everywhere. They didn't get their by magic. A writer put them there. In your book, on your website, in the video game, on your Kindle.
I'm sick to death of all the bad news when in fact we should be jumping up and down. We have been the powerless victims (I say this as I wait for my royalty payment from a traditional publisher which is, as I write this, two days late as per the deadline in the contract) and suddenly the publishing industry is changing in our favour and people are saying we're about to die?? I don't get it. What is it some sort of Stockholm Syndrome for writers?
Come on guys! Now is the time to step up. Opportunities and ways to publish are myriad, more than every before. You have options galore. Good writers are needed, desperately. Why are we all so depressed? Why do we keep looking at the sky waiting for it to fall?
I think Margaret Atwood makes some fantastic points in the video. We're the dead moose. The dead moose will always be needed. So have no fear! Viva the Dead Moose!!
2 comments:
Yay! Writers are the future not the past! I definitely think that the power has (is busy) shifting to where it belongs...the hands of the authors. We'll only go extinct if we misuse that power but luckily, writers are open minded, forward thinking, enlightened people! Right? Right! :)
Judy (South Africa)
I think the urge to communicate our thoughts and feelings through language is essential to what it means to be human -- as is the impulse to tell stories. No, writers aren't going anywhere. The industry is definitely changing, but the product isn't.
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