Be Careful Who you Listen To

Self-publishing is good. No, it's bad. MySpace is bad for your image. No, it's a great way to reach out to your readers. How can you believe the advice you receive?

The internet has opened the door for six billion people to share ideas between each other. The increase in knowledge and technology has grown at an astounding rate in the last 10 years, and it nearly frightens me to think of what we might have access to ten years from now.

While most of us benefit from this most of the time, there are pitfalls that come from the chance to get advice from anyone, anywhere, at any time. Years ago, it took expert status to publish a book, get on a talk show, or write newspaper columns on your topic of choice. Today, anyone with an opinion can mass produce their ideas, good or bad, true or false.

An industry as complex and confusing as that of book publishing is a prime example of a chance to be misled, misinformed, and disappointed.

Take self-publishing for instance. I recently read a long rant about how bad it is. "It's lazy, unprofessional, and won't get you any sales." True. You can get into self-publishing and end up with a poorly formatted book that is full of mistakes and was poorly promoted. However, that isn't the fault of the self-publishing system, which is simply a combination of a la carte services for authors of any caliber. Rather, it is the poor planning on the part of the writers who failed to edit their work properly, define their marketing plan appropriately, and seek the advice of others when desperately need.

Or social networking sites. I recently replied to a blog post written by a student who's teacher had demanded each student in his class take down their MySpace and FaceBook pages or risk getting in trouble. The idea was that everything you put on the internet is available for everyone to see, and you don't want to create that image. True. If you post crude images and sloppy language, you've sealed your reputation. But what if you posted pictures of you writing, speaking, and signing books? What if your friends were a network of readers? What if you posted excepts and event dates and tips for authors? What kind of reputation would you get from that?

Most of the resources you find as a writer will not be inherently bad. There are always the bad contracts, poorly run businesses, and scams, but most of the time the positive or negative value lies in how you use it. Learn how to use tools to their greatest capacity and how to protect yourself legally. Don't take all the advice of just one or two people, including myself. Do your research and test the waters on your own. Take responsibility for your projects and don't believe everything you hear about how easy or how impossible it is. Getting your book published IS possible. Becoming a better writer IS possible. Anything you want in the publishing industry IS possible, as long as you are willing to give it the time, commitment, and respect it deserves.