By Edward Nawotka
Today’s lead story discusses what the book contract of the future might entail. A big part of that future is the new resource of online analytics that will enable authors to engage more fully and in real time with their readers, typically through blogging or social media.
As Liz Bury, author of the article, explained to me in an email:
If, for example, the data shows that users are very active on a website at night, then the author could post a comment at the right time. Or if they tend to dwell longer on blogs to do with the author’s personal life, and shorter on blogs about his/her publisher, then that might affect the length of the blog. It’s using customer data to enable the author to be smarter about how they engage with their readers.
And that’s just the start of it . . . one could poll one’s readership to find out what direction a particular mystery series might take, or whether or not they desired a sequel to a given novel. The readers, could, as is stated later in the piece, have a stake in the “world” of the writer.
Certainly this is a boon to the writer in terms of marketing, but how about the actual process of writing? Is a writer who caters too much to the desires of his audience make them too self-conscious? Is a writer working in solitude and creative isolation producing something with more integrity, or at the very least, more spontaneity? Is are both of these ideas merely outdated, or merely romantic, notions of the writers life?
Let us know what you think in the comments below or via Twitter using #ppdiscuss.
3 Comments
This has always been debated as to whether a writer writes for the sake of writing or for his/her followers. It entirely depends upon the author’s abilty to balance what he/she knows/thinks is right for the story or work and being swayed by public judgment and inputs.
While it’s good to know that authors can interact with their readers in an unencumbered manner and be free with them, they should also look out to keeping a voice of reason steady throughout. As long as the author doesn’t let the quality of his/her works decline, everything should be fine.
While the idea of the writer, alone in his/her mountain cabin typing away is fraught with romantic notion, I don’t think it’s necessarily outdated. I agree that in this day and age, it behooves an author to be more ‘aware’ of his/her readership, but how ‘aware’ is too aware?
I now find myself reluctantly taking time away from writing, to blog and tweet. Sometimes I resent it, because the Muse calls. She is a jealous mistress and doesn’t take these 21st century excuses well. The whole reason I started this was for the love of the story. I think that, for me, is the key.
Perspective.
Be aware of my readership, but don’t be obsessed. Tweet and blog but keep them in perspective. Most importantly, when the Muse calls go.
@russviola
A number of authors actually try to avoid fan interaction, polling, etc. because of the infamous Zimmer Bradley case where a fan apparently threatened to sue over an idea they both hit upon independently, and as a result she had to scrap plans for one of her books.
J. Michael Straczynski famously had to track down a fan and get the fan to sign a release after being inadvertently exposed to said fan posting an idea on the Babylon 5 newsgroup. He then stopped reading the unmoderated B5 group altogether and filtered mail and messages and so forth through a secretary to avoid further such exposure.
Unless something can be done about the issue of legal liability, this sort of thing just isn’t going to fly.
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