Okay. I get it now. There’s more to being a writer in the 21st century than just writing. If you really wanna make it, you gotta have your “online presence,” your “author platform,” a fancy-schmancy website and up-to-date, clever blog. You need to identify your “target market” and “target audience” and be “discoverable” by current and potential “readers” and “industry figures.” Through your web presence, you need to create “connections” and be “accessible,” as well as be “a source of inspiration and motivation.” You need to “create,” “grow” and “maintain” your “fresh and engaging” author platform.
Oh dear. I just wanted to write children’s books. I thought that my wonderful books would speak for themselves. I believed that my focus should be on my creative process and telling the stories that have floated in my head for years. I wanted to be discovered by a publishing company who would nurture my image and take care of all those tiresome details. It could happen… right?
Nope. Not anymore. In today’s publishing landscape writers apparently need to be on top of their online presence almost as much as they need to be on top of their writing. Or so I am told. So what’s a writer to do?
I did what anyone else would do. I went on the internet. Just like my “target audience.” I learned what current and potential readers, agents and publishers expect from an author in this digital age. I acquired a whole new vocabulary related to creating a web presence. I consulted a website developer to help me get oriented and begin. Exploring and analyzing the author platforms of both successful and unknown children’s writers helped me see possibilities and what works for them. I registered for a class on website design. My own tech-friendly children and colleagues gave me advice and I started to figure it out.
As I involved myself in the process, I started to believe that this might even be a good idea. Surprisingly useful. Kind of interesting. Possibly even … exciting?
So, I am now in the process of creating that all-important author website. I am finally putting to good use a domain name that I claimed years ago. I have a “theme” and an outline for my “pages” and the draft content for each page and sub-page. I’m learning about “plug-ins” and “widgets” and “jetpacks.” Yes, jetpacks!
Soon, I’ll move onto mastering social media. Facebook (no problem), Instagram and Pinterest (sure, why not?), YouTube (well, maybe), and Twitter (maybe not!).
While I would rather be spending my time just writing, I have come to appreciate the creativity and purpose of this process too. It has forced me to think deeply and differently about my writing. I am beginning to know how I want to present myself to the wide, wide world that can be accessed with the touch of a button. The idea of such immediate access is challenging and important. I’m focusing on the ways I can reach and interact with my readers and am considering what they might want from me. I want agents and publishers to know that I can contribute to my own success. Embracing the idea of a web-presence will enable me to connect to the world ways that would have been impossible a generation ago.
And using a jet-pack, even a digital one, is really, really cool.
