This blog is my personal commentary on Twitter Founder Ev Williams comments at the recent XOXO conference in Portland, OR. (All these conferences ... so little time! ;-) ) If you want to see what Ev had to saw, check out this article on Wired.
So, as authors, why do we need to know about what the Internet can do for us? I am an Indie author, which means that I self-publish. Where I self-publish is on the Internet. (Yes, I could go through a local printer, store books in my garage, etc., but that really seems time consuming to me. I want to write books,not spend my time getting them in the market place and out to my readers.) Ev talks about getting rich online ... I perked up a bit at that!
Ev may have a few points to his credit - remember, he is the creative force behind both Twitter and Blogger. (No kick-backs are involved here. ;-) ) His secret - stay with something tried and true, so not attempt to be the next big change on the Internet, do not attempt to reinvent the wheel. I love that thought - find something that works, use it as a template ... only do it better! Writers have wonderful imaginations ... we can do this!
Ev sees the Internet as a problem solver ... people go to it to solve problems, and to give people what they want. As writers, we are giving our readers information, entertainment, and a way to feel good about themselves. No matter what genre we write in, each book, each story, each story line has a message to convey.
So how does Ev see the Internet as we know it today functioning? Through connections - through the follows, and likes, through multiple layers of people reaching out. Whatever we do on the Internet, and however we do it, it has to be convenient for those that we want to connect to us, and it has to be easy for people to understand and use. To quote Ev: "... the key to making a fortune online is to remove the extra steps from common activities", such as he did with Blogger.
It is up to us as writers to make the connection to our potential readership convenient, easy, and strong. However we connect, whatever social media sites we use,however we choose to publish our work, we can take out the unnecessary steps, streamline what we do, and make a comfortable living.
(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet
Reproduction prohibited in all venues without the written permission of the author.
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