Posts Tagged ‘Internet’

Winding down the year

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

“So this is Christmas, and what have you done?” The refrain hangs heavy on my mind. Like a stock-taking superimposed by some divine deity who is counting down the hours in my life left on this earth.

I learned a few home truths this year. I learned that I could write books and stories in my sleep, but without a strong sponsor or benefactor, they were going nowhere, unless I gave them away for free on the Internet (still an option that I am actively considering). I learned that the commercial world had burrowed deep into its foxhole in 2009 and wasn’t taking any chances on “new and enhanced” but sticking merely to “tried and true.” I learned that Social Networking is great to become famous (sure, Google me and see the number of places you can find Shane Joseph, Writer) but not necessarily rich. It takes more than blog articles, tweets, and online postings before customers will buy into your brand. I learned that the tried and true media outlets are still the most influential.

I learned that people, even those closest to me, were fallible, just as I am, and that I cannot always hold them to the high standard I hold for myself. I learned to pursue dreams and accept when they came up short in reality. I have learned that money is only given to us for safekeeping and for deploying wisely; if we fail in that task, it will be taken away. I learned about the circular nature of time – events will take place only when they are meant to; all we can do is prepare for their occurrence. And so, even though I continue to record appointments in my calendar and plan for achieving defined goals within certain time frames, I am fatalistic about their actual outcomes. I have learned that the expression “Shit happens,” really happens!

Therefore I would respond to that old John Lennon song and say that I grew wise, marginally. I grew patient. I became poorer in the pocketbook but richer in my soul. I grew older by a year. I planted a lot of seedlings in this rather fallow year, which I am hoping will bud in 2010. And I have bided my time, waiting for the next chapter to unfold.

To all of you who have been reading my blog posts, I wish you Season’s Greetings and all the very best in 2010!

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Hammered by the Blockbuster?

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

I was doing my writer’s math again this week. It’s pretty basic – debits and credits – mainly debits, as we don’t get a lot of royalties and the bills are still, well, the bills – they don’t go away. Some statistics lay in front of me:
1) The average male adult reader reads only 4 books in a year, and 1 in 4 adults has not read a book in a year.
2) Book readership declined 10% between 1992 and 2002. No stats yet on the decline since
3) The number of writers has been increasing, thanks to self-publishing
4) Dan Brown’s five blockbuster books sold 120 million copies and JK Rowling’s super-blockbusters have sold 350-400 million copies (source Wikipedia), taking out many from those numbers of readers who only read, perhaps, one book a year.
5) On average, “other books”, mainly self-published books, sold 72 copies per title
6) Despite all of the above, people are reading more today, thanks to blogs, wikis, tweets, texts and e-mail – mostly talking about newsworthy items – like blockbusters!

My permutations quickly made me realize that as blockbuster sales increase and readership declines, this double whammy will soon reduce the publishing industry to “blockbuster-only” publishing. Print-on-Demand notwithstanding, there will be so few buyers of non-blockbusters, that eventually the POD industry will be forced to consolidate like the traditional guys have been doing for ages. Non-blockbuster writers will become tellers of tales around a campfire – where it began once upon a time, before the printing press was invented. For why bother to write it down anyway, if no one bothers to read it?

There are of course the many side-options for eking out a living in this trade: writer-in-residence, creative writing instructor, editor, proof-reader, freelance writer, corporate speech writer, marketing communications writer, political speech writer, screenwriter, playwright, writing contest organizer (I like this one – read my other blog on this topic), writing retreat organizer and blog writer for hire – all options that the writer could dabble in to pay the bills. Or he could simply throw his hands-up and apply for government grants to keep hunger at bay. Writers might also become performers of their work, like Dickens and Twain did successfully. In that vein, I am loading up my upcoming book launch with poets and hip-hop singers and others who could make it a memorable event – i.e. performing words instead of merely reading them.

Or we could throw the whole damn thing out, get a day job and die unhappy.

I am generally an optimistic person. I don’t believe in dead-end day jobs, or in being limited to sitting around the campfire, or in empty blockbusters that only entertain but do not educate and enlighten. I think that determined writers will continue to write, and as a last resort, use the most potent weapon in their arsenal: the Internet, the same medium that helped fragment their universe in the first place. They will pour out their creativity into blogs, wikis, web sites, and provide free content on the Internet in the hope that in some near future, this unleashed creativity will become the bedrock of a new, more literate generation. And so, I live, and write, in hope.

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To protect or to give it away?

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

The copyright debate is underway in Canada and writers have mobilized heavyweights like the leaders of the opposition parties (who have all had the time to write books, it appears) to defend us from our wily prime minister, who has still to write one and who likes to sell everything we own to the highest bidder.

On the other hand,we have award-winning writers like Terry Fallis and Corey Doctorow who gave away their books for free on the Internet and later trade published them to great global sales. The Internet is just a promotional channel for these bolder, more enlightened authors who believe that anonymity is a worse sin than lost royalties, and in so publishing their work for free on the Net, earn more royalties than most writers who jealously guard their copyrights.

What does one do? To protect, or to give it away, that is indeed the question? Scanning the various copyright discussion boards, a few points seem to emerge that most stakeholders agree upon: (1) Writers should be fairly compensated for their work, ideally by those receiving value from this work (2) Publishers should be fairly compensated for their risks and for any marketing and distribution effort they employ that bring tangible results (3) Quality control should be maintained on what gets published in the world, for there is too much junk floating out there (4) Readers should pay for value. (5) There is no copyright on ideas or mashups of creative thinking (6) The Internet is a great marketing medium, and writers can become famous in this space but not necessarily wealthy unless they publish in paper form (7) Readers do not like reading books off the Internet on a PC (over time, Kindle and other devices may help approximate or surpass the printed book’s functionality but we are far away from mass adoption of these devices today) (8) Copyright usually outlives the writer’s life and the book’s shelf life – so why does the protection period have to last for so long?

Whatever model we have employed in the past, be it the patronage model (i.e. the writer is adopted by a rich patron), the royalty model, the self-publishing model, the give-it-away-for-free-on-the-Internet model, they all fall short of addressing the points above that we all agree upon. It’s like buying a car these days—it comes loaded with pros and cons disguised as features.

One thing is clear – if we are to produce high quality art, a total focus to the medium is required by the artist, and having to split that focus by earning a living elsewhere is only going to come at the expense of creating good art. Perhaps the argument needs to shift away from copyright to the wellbeing and the creative nurturing of the artist. How will we nurture the artist and give him a place to produce work that stretches our imagination and shapes the culture he comes from? Once we have cracked that code, copyright will be less relevant – for copyright will belong to society, who will in turn honour, respect and take care of its artists. I think of the Buddhist monk with his bowl for alms going door to door, certain that he will receive enough to fill his stomach, so that he in turn can focus on spiritual service to his flock of devotees.

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