Amateurs? Nay, Trailblazers

Time is going by fast. So fast, in fact, I almost forgot it was Friday! Hehe. Not to mention the very last Friday of 2008.

This has been quite a year in Publishinglandia and across the cultural phenomenon. Best of… lists are being created across the blogosphere from a Hall of Infamy, Best Gowns, even the Best (and Worst) Sex Scandals of 2008. Amidst these lists is a myriad of book lists asking readers to name their best reads of 2008. At the forefront of the book lists is a blogger named Dewey who lead many book lovers across the sphere in reading challenges and helped bring the book club online. Sadly Dewey recently passed but her legacy lives on as more readers climb on board to continue the challenges she started.

In publishing, 2008 marked the beginning and the end for many big changes in the industry. Agent Nathan Bransford recently posted an overview of the new year along with a slew of articles detailed the end of the book industry (like for real this time) with the economy taking a nosedive.

It’s no doubt that literature will survive. With the amount of books continuing to come out, the amount of passionate writers who will continue to pen tales because it’s in their blood and it’s their drive and with the amount of readers always looking for a few hours (or days) worth of reading material to help them escape and learn, literature will never go out of style.

It’ll definitely change though. With the rise of audio and digital many people are starting to get hip to new forms of storytelling. It just probably won’t be in the big business realm.

NY Times has finally noticed ebooks are starting to make waves into reader’s laps, Charlie Jane Anders at Io9 noted that big business’s push to make books a multi-gazillion dollar industry has backfired after losing key readers and newspapers are continuing to go digital as print dies.

I remember a book that came out this year chronicling the rise of the amateur. I think it was from a disgruntled critic who used to be revered and it started a slew of other critics coming out and degrading bloggers for being the new critics in how things are sold.  I remember there was a special on Book TV with them complaining or something. Anyway, things look to be turning back into the hands of the user and it seems books may rise in going that way as well.

I think we’ll still have publishers, even though 2009 may be the rise of the Indie. Sara Nelson of Publishers Weekly even said that it may go back to the days when small publishers run the publishing industry which would be really cool. I’m a big small publisher fan because I am picking up so many good reads from there and they’re always opening to different kinds of stories away from the mainstream. I’d love to see speculative fiction rise, namely sci-fi whose numbers have sadly been faltering this year as fantasy, romance and their subgenres continue to rise.

I can’t help but wonder what will 2009 bring. With the news of Borders nearly near closing because of the big loss it suffered earlier (97%), I wonder if indie and specialty bookstores will continue to bring books to the masses. Or will the rise of the Espresso Book Machine finally change the face of book printing and how they are sold in stores?

Perhaps we won’t know until 09 begins. But it sure is fun to speculate.

It’s an exciting time to be a writer and the best thing one can do now is educate yourself and get to know other writers. Exchange knowledge of something you may know and can share with others and learn from others may know and you may not.

After all, the only differences between an amateur and an experienced writer is time, patience and perseverance to strive for better.

I shall leave you with a very informative video from earlier this year. I happened to catch the end of the Self-Publishing panel on Book TV featuring Carolyn Hale Bruce, Charles Randolph Bruce, Robert Marston Fanney, Jeff Winner, Mayapriya Long talking about their experiences in bringing their work out Indie Style. Great stuff here.

Hope everyone has a wonderful end of 2008 and the next year brings all your goals, hopes and dreams to life.

Self Publishing Panel @ Virginia Festival of the Book