Comments on: Best of the Blog 2009: What Does the Future Hold?

By: KC Frantzen

KC Frantzen — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:23:38 +0000

I’m just trying to learn all I can as I go. Thanks for a great post and “community”.

By: Lynn Rush

Lynn Rush — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:50:30 +0000

I love the idea of “community”. I’m new to the world of writing and have found several communities with some stellar writers–both publishd and not. I love how welcoming and supportive everyone is. Willing to help you learn the craft, and willing to help you market. I love it.

Great post. Happy Monday.

By: Britt

Britt — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:11:12 +0000

I finally got a blog. I sometimes wish I didn’t have to “sell myself” (that sounds uglier than it really is) but I suppose its the name of the game now.

By: Nikki Hahn

Nikki Hahn — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:24:35 +0000

I am not doing twitter. My cousin would be laughing at me now because he knows I can’t resist commenting. I do facebook and I have my own personal website. In between, I write short stories to create a reader base while I work on my book. All in all, my world revolves around electronics. Now I say, I won’t do twitter, but eventually, it might become my marketing tool when I finally get my book noticed.

Facebook is a joy. However, it is only used for friends, family, and occasionally a friend of a friend who share my enthuasisam on a subject. Facebook is my private domain where I can share with family and friends and the occasionally trusted network buddy. Okay…maybe I’ll do twitter.

By: Brian T. Carroll

Brian T. Carroll — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:26:59 +0000

“So find out how Facebook works and what the etiquette of that community is before you try a creative way to connect with others through it.”

I love Facebook and the way community is no longer limited by geography. One of my recent updates drew comments from four continents. But the etiquette observation is very important. A couple of my (175) FB friends use it to plug herbal suppliments or other businesses. I think that abuses the community ethic. Nobody goes to a social networking site hoping to be hustled. I do post links each time I update my blog, and have noticed a five-fold increase in blog traffic. I don’t have anything to sell yet on my blog, but if and when I have a book, I’ll no doubt celebrate its release with a status update for the friends who care more about me than about my book, but I’ll confine my plugs to my blog, where only those who care to visit and might actually want to purchase a copy will be able to view them.

For most of my FB history, my friends list has been limited to people I already knew, but lately I have added several friends whom I have never seen (or would have run into) outside cyberspace. I value that too highly to risk commercializing it.

By: Robin Jones Gunn

Robin Jones Gunn — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:07:34 +0000

Not to be too much of a Pollyanna in the group, but this forecast excites me for two reasons.

1) I’m not as concerned about the future of books as I am about the future of readers.

If readers are being trained to follow a writer, then we have a much greater opportunity to go deeper in our “discipleship” of readers. Sending a book out to the masses has been a shot gun evangelism approach for the sort of writing I do. My desire has long been to continue deeper and more purposefully in communicating truth to my readers. The new world publishing order (sorry!) invites that sort of connection and ongoing relationship between authors and readers. Instead of trying to hit as many faceless consumers as we can, we now have the privilege of shepherding our own little flocks and building community with them. That excites me as a Believer.

2) Over the years my best writing has happened when I’ve had a circle of critiquers on my heels asking for the next chapter.

The concept of serialization of novels was all the rage 150 years ago. Harriett Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin chapter by chapter for a weekly newspaper, The National Era. Talk about staying on deadline and building a readership! When she finished the last chapter the book went to print the same day and sold out the first print run in less than a week. I wouldn’t want to write all my future books a chapter a week but the possibilities are now before us to creatively build our flock while we’re writing, invite them to share ownership of the story while it’s being created and be the first to grab a copy when it’s completed. The model for community excites me.

By: Eileen Button

Eileen Button — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:45:45 +0000

As a newspaper columnist (yes, we still exist) much of my time is spent uploading, linking to other articles and responding to readers. All that occurs on the surface of my writing life; the best stuff is found deep within and demands Facebook-free time, Twitter-free thought and patience. Lots of patience.

Imagine for a moment if Virgina Woolf had Twittered. How about “friending” Tolstoy and learning what he ate for dinner? Weird, right? This constant access to one another robs us of our privacy, our lovely mystery and our ability to dig deeply. Trust me, I get it – I’m just not sure it’s good.

By: Janet Grant

Janet Grant — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:07:26 +0000

Thanks to everyone who has chimed in with his/her responses. It’s good for us to talk about these things together. We have plenty of challenges to rise to, but so much room for innovation. Because we’re creative types, we need to let our imaginations soar.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:52:51 +0000

I’m pretty excited about things. The transition will be an adjustment, but it’s one that energizes me. I like that community is rising. There’s been a hole there too long. One who knows and cares about his/her community will end up writing to serve that community and in turn be served and enriched by it.

By: Bill Giovannetti

Bill Giovannetti — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:41:47 +0000

This information is great. It makes three statements to me:

1. Be evangelistic with your writing. Believe your message and be willing to “spend and be spent” for its sake… and with that,

2. Speak the language of the culture. The language of our culture is digital. I feel more challenged than ever to master this contemporary idiom… “I have become all things to all people that I might by all means save some.”

3. Welcome the future. We who believe in Jesus can’t be found tilting away from where society is headed. All too often, Christians have played catch up. Why don’t we help forge the path? Learn to love the technology… What an open door for the gospel!

Sorry for preaching… I come by it honestly.

Bill Giovannetti
How to Keep Your Inner Mess from Trashing Your Outer World. (Monarch Books 2009)
Four Letter Words (Hopefully 2010)