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A short story by a relatively unknown
author gets top billing with a major urban news outlet. Sounds like fantasy,
right?
Last week, KGW
Portland, opened 6 pm news with an author reading from his recently
published speculative fiction, an unconventional short story set in the moments
following a big Cascadia earthquake.
Disasters—even fictional ones—tend to
pique interest, and people in Portland are understandably interested in a
seismic event that could potentially destroy their city, but there’s more
behind how this particular story got noticed. Author Adam Rothstein opted to
publish “Five Minutes” on Motherboard, an online magazine and video channel. The
first of a five-part series, the story opens on a page featuring an image that
undulates the way the land does during a major quake, an effect you can’t achieve
in traditional print or even in e-book format.
For the IBPA Independent,
I’m working on an article called “Updates from the Digital Frontier.” As I
interview publishing experts, it’s clear that much conventional thinking about
when and how to publish needs to be refreshed.
When the meteoric rise in e-book sales
slowed, sighs of relief sounded from many corners of the industry. Revolution
over, frontier closed. We could all go back to business as usual.
According to digital publishing experts, nothing
could be further from the truth. When pondering how to publish, these experts
say, we should be thinking beyond the traditional book, either print or
digital. We should be thinking beyond containers. We should be thinking instead
about purpose and audience, and then about seeking the best means of reaching these,
regardless of how unconventional. Rothstein, it seems, did exactly that.
What Marshall McLuhan
asserted decades ago—that the medium is the message—applies now more than
ever. But even as options expand, certain aspects of when to publish—and how—remain
evergreen. The ability to view your work with a certain degree of objectivity
is one indicator that you’re ready to think about publishing. Another is that
you have a good understanding of your audience and purpose, allowing you to
assess which formats and approaches to publishing will be most appropriate for
your project.
Long ago, we used to say that when you could
envision your book on a shelf, you might be ready to pursue publication. These
days, that visioning might not involve a shelf at all. Instead, the best way to
reach your audience and achieve your purpose might be via an app or an enhanced
website. It might even be a short story that turns up on the evening news.
For
authors who want to know more about their publishing options and how they can
know when their projects are ready, Deb has written What
Every Author Should Know and Write
Your Best Book. She hasn’t yet figured out how to get these projects top
billing on the 6 o’clock news, but she’s working on it.