Format and audience

So if you’ve been reading here for a while you know that I am a big fan of the e-book format and especially the Kindle reader, but you really have to think about your audience when you are writing (and more importantly marketing.)

There are lots of people out there who don’t own an e-reader and will never own one. It’s just a foreign thing to them. And… I’ll say it. There is a certain tactile feel to holding and reading a “real” book. Paper and ink just have their own feel and smell and it’s an independence thing. You are alone and absorbed and it’s disconnected and connected at the same time.

It’s disconnected from that online electronic world which has enveloped the world, but it connects you to people that have been around since shortly after Gutenberg and his press opened up the world for reading. It’s a connection to history. Shakespeare held paper and read the inked word and so have all the modern writers. Whether it’s a newspaper or a book there is something about holding the printed page.

I went off on a little trip there, but it felt good. The point is that you have to get your words on paper to reach a larger audience. That might be magazines or it could be a newspaper, print on demands or a traditional publisher, but you have to spread the word with assorted delivery methods.

There’s something to chew on. Happy holidays and raise a glass to a successful new year!