The world of publishing is evolving so rapidly sometimes I think I’m in a science fiction movie and can’t get out! The pace of change is so head spinning, I can’t even create a presentation more than a week ahead of time because a news announcement might occur (and usually does) to change everything.
So, we’re trying to keep ahead of the curve by starting our clients out with what is now being termed “hybrid” career strategies. But what is a hybrid author exactly?
Here we begin with the author as the center of our career planning. We try to discover what that person’s unique strengths and desires are and build a plan so they can follow their dreams. What does this person enjoy writing? What is their ideal writing pace? What venues besides writing can they explore with their stories? Do they have projects that would show better as digital content? (Upgradeable? Changeable? Too short or long for traditional tastes?) Do they have an interest in videos, game play, apps or mobile content? And do they like to expand their stories with alternative endings, secondary character arcs, deleted content sneak peaks, blog series…or???
What the world is now calling a hybrid author is what we’ve been calling a fully-enabled storyteller—one who may enjoy writing a romance novel one month, then shooting their own book trailer or recording a podcast the next. And we love these folks. They are unafraid to try something new. And build something. And learn something. They are makers at heart.
Today’s hybrid author has both digital AND traditional outlets for their art. Because publishing today is not a choice of one or the other. It is not self-publishing revolutionaries pitted against the Big Six corporate machine. There is room everywhere for everything. We’re experiencing a Renaissance for storytelling in all its forms. And we want to help it flourish.
As Guy Kawasaki said during his keynote address at the recent San Francisco Writers Conference (and I paraphrase here because I was fangirling out and didn’t write it down verbatim): We don’t call it self-baking or self-brewing when we craft a full-bodied ale or create an Italian Focaccia. We call it artisanal. Handcrafted. Made with love.
There is room for both artisanal and mass-produced books on bookshelves and eReaders, as well as video game stories and audio experiences and cell phone serials. We want to help hybrid authors find their muse. Because there’s no telling where this is going. And we want to enjoy the ride.
By Laurie McLean
