Getting noticed as an author is the key to sustained success. In the olden days, it required a traditional publisher unless you were personally loaded. That publisher had resources you didn’t, so you needed them to increase your visibility.
Since the dawn of the internet, and the explosion of
outlets, it has become something of a smorgasbord. In a way, this is a great thing – it has
opened up avenues previously closed, especially to indie writers. Any writer that spends a modicum of time
searching and engaging can find outlets for his or her work. Much like how cable news and the internet
broke the hold of the Big Three networks, these new avenues broke a lot of the
hold traditional publishers had on outlets and notoriety.
On the other hand, such an explosion of outlets and avenues
has also made it harder to get noticed if you’re great because there’s a lot of
noise. Everyone is trying to get
a glimpse from others, so it’s hard to know what’s worth the time, and what’s
more garbage that wastes time(in fairness, great could stand out more when it
was restricted…that’s not to say publishing produced nothing but greatness(I’ve
talked at length about that), but when outlets were fewer, people gave them
more credibility).
In a way, it’s still like traditional publishing, in that
you have to usually start at the bottom and work your way up. You aren’t going to get into a major outlet
on your first attempt. You need to find
success with lower rungs before you’ll be considered, and that starts with
grassroots outfits. Go to blogs and
contests that will gin up some publicity for you. That will allow you, if you find some
success, to move to a higher set of blogs and sites. It sucks “paying dues,” but all it takes is
one viral moment to push you to the success you imagine. Well, that and some talent. 😉
No comments:
Post a Comment