The Digitalist

While some aspiring novelists spurn blogging others are making a success of it. Think of people like Alison Norrington or Scott Sigler who have used blogging technologies to tell and promote their novels. While many people cherish the opinion that their unique vision stands out the sheer mass of the estimated 188 million blogs seems to curl the lips and spike the arrogance of those who can’t see that this is now part of the writosphere as much as scribbling sestinas and neo-Freudian meditations on childhood.

Creative writing is as much about tweeting and posting on blogs as anything; or if not then it will be, or at least, if writers accept the challenge, could be. The novel to was once seen as a rather shabby medium, not fit for the Augustan literary elite.

Times changed.

Skills in the Digital Era part two

…I agreed with everything Chris Meade had to say, especially about the importance of the creative roles in digital media, although from the other side of a five-year cline, and had anticipated some of his conclusions in my talk. Speaking as a trade publisher, I argued that although editors in our part of the archipelago needed new knowledge and understanding, as they always have, they didn’t need new skills, and I outlined ten key islands of knowledge, five collaborative and five individual. A few people asked if they could have a copy of the talk, so I’m posting it here. The first part sets out some general ideas, the second part looks at how to apply the ten points specifically to the creation and publication of eBooks.