Amanda Lemming–The Road

Hello everyone. Today I have thankfully gotten a great guest-poster for you all that shares some insight into the realm of publishing and what the future could mean for us writers. Feel free to comment to ask Jose any questions you have. Without further adieu, Jose Cervantes!

Thank you Amanda for this opportunity to write a guest-post on your blog.
First of all, I would like to congratulate Amanda for starting her blog on July 16, 2013. It’s clear she’s in love with reading, writing, and storytelling. As a reader of her blog, I am sure you will receive a good dosage of thoughts and commentary on the aspiring life of a writer; from the creation of her works to the marketing and publishing.

Recently, Amanda shared her thoughts on writer’s block through a guest post on my website, Short Story Guy. She discussed her work-in-progress novel Perfect, and a technique she used to help her writing (and characters) move forward.
After reading her thoughts on writing, and story/character development, I am convinced that she will continue to work hard on that avenue. And her personal blog posts only reinforce that—the brainstorming pages of how she plans her writing is proof. So while she’s working hard in that department, she asked if I could come over and share my thoughts on the publication and marketing world.

How Portability Has Redefined Publishing and Marketing

When people look back at the last 20 years, the internet’s going to be the big umbrella word that everyone credits for the new industries that were developed at the beginning of the 21st century.
But what’s special about the internet? The internet exists when two computers can communicate, and over time, as the computers diminished in size, the internet expanded its reach into our lives.

The catalyst to everything—including modern publishing and communications—was portability. That’s right, your smart phone and tablet.
Facebook and Twitter took off when people had the ability to not only text people they knew, but to interact with the world through their fingertips, on the go.
The expansion of social media gave birth to the world-wide phenomena of sharing that we now live in. Social media has triggered people to share 1) their lives and knowledge and 2) the stories and knowledge of others.
If you pair this with the accessibility most of us enjoy to online publishing, it means that everyday billions of people are looking to create content (their own stories) and to share the works of others.
Whether it is audio, video, or verbal, the essence of sharing is the same—we are collectively adding to an enormous pile of stories that are finding ways to be heard, watched or read.
And by the time I finish writing this post, and definitely by the time it gets to Amanda and to you guys, the publication world will already have changed, as it is a daily race.
So we live in a time where anyone can begin to publish works to large quantities of people who can access your content anywhere they go.

Stories are Everything
Whether they are a person or an organization, more than ever people are finding ways to tell their story.
And today, storytelling is at the center of every industry. Why? This is because, as diverse as companies may be, every industry has the common need to advertise and market their product. And the way that marketing is happening is through stories.
But you already knew that. Pay attention the next time you watch TV. The commercial’s goal is to tell a story that is interesting enough as to make you feel something that somehow relates to that product. Some just simply entertain you, while others try to provoke other feelings.
When you walk into the mall and into stores, do you think it is just happen-chance? The photographed models are telling a story of how that brand’s clothes fits. The mannequins are relating a scene. The wall displays are striving to subliminally interest you in their arrangement, colors and feel.
Companies have always used whatever technology is available to tell their stories, beginning with the ability to print, then record, and watch. The difference today is that they have begun to also integrate their story into the inevitability of the internet, which is a catch-all. And on the internet, who knows? Your story may go viral.

What This Means for You
There is a lot of competition. Individuals are competing against other individuals, and against much more resourced organizations and companies who are also competing against themselves.
As you know, companies and organizations have gone to social media to expand their brand–even governments. And there’s no way of stopping all of this storytelling.
For the foreseeable future, publishing and marketing will be the ability you have to get your story to the consumer’s hands and mind, and then maybe you can get to their wallet.
The best thing you can do right now is to sharpen the skills you have, or want, to create that which will help you either tell your story or the story of others. By doing this, you will equip yourself with a skill that everyone is seeking. And however you want to create your story or contribute to one (design, illustrate, shoot, write), get to it now.
Which is why I congratulated Amanda for starting her blog. She knows she loves reading and writing, which are essentially two communicative devices, and therefore actively took it upon herself to do more of what she already loves, online.
Once you’ve got a platform for your story, I think the execution of the rest of your journey is where you can outshine the competition.
For now, don’t worry about how competitive the internet is. Be a part of the publishing revolution and know that even with the astronomical number of humans involved in the same process, you are still a select few. And at the very least, you’ll write regularly.
So get online and create stories and find the right mediums to spread them (podcasts, e-books, visuals, video, whatever).

Mix It Up

The very next thing any individual or organization needs to do is build relationships. And this is the irony: while you may think I’m talking about online relationships (which are helpful), my tip is to create an online platform but be sure to make it unique through offline interaction.
Why is this? Because in our modern times, we are forgetting what it means to communicate with people off-line. Newer generations seem to be more adept at typing with their thumbs than 10 fingers; so while everyone’s trying to make a splash online, you will solidify your publishing career through some work you do off-line.
This includes writing and producing content, receiving training, and relationship building with contacts that will help you in return. At least that is a big theory of mine. So as you create followers online through your platform, find a way to also interact with them offline.
This is because the online world is continually filled with distractions, and people are quickly desensitized to the stories they find online—they don’t even have the time for them all. They will remember you if they hear about you offline, and then keep up with you more online.
So get online and produce. Continually learn your own habits—what makes you pay attention to something or someone? What gadgets are you going for? And learn to tell your story through those mediums, all while keeping a healthy balance with your presence offline. Because people will look to be more engulfed in your stories (which is what technology will accomplish), and when they meet you offline, they’ll listen more.

ABOUT THIS GUEST AUTHOR

Jose Cervantes

Jose has an interest in storytelling (journalism, fiction, nonfiction) and content creation, which has led him to gain experience in digital communications (writing, editing, web publishing, and online media). Previously, he worked in education for 10 years at the high school and university level. He is currently an editor and contributor to Short Story Guy, an online current event and modern-day fiction and nonfiction publication. He hosts the Short Story Guy Podcast and manages the site’s social media accounts.

He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Literature and Film. Jose lives in Los Angeles, CA.

For guest-post inquiries, email him at contact[at]shortstoryguy[dot]com

You can also get in further contact with Jose via;

His website, Short Story Guy or

His About.me Profile