The Future of Writing: Predictions

At our recent fiction writer’s meeting one member shared a list of predictions made by author Randy Ingermanson about the future of publishing. I thought they were very relevant to the theme of this blog which has to do with online writing. In particular, Randy predicted that 1) e-books will soon surpass books in print; 2) e-books will soon be the “minor leagues”, meaning that “writers will simply short-circuit the traditional route by e-publishing their first book”; and 3) beginning authors will e-publish first.


I couldn’t agree more based on what I read and hear in the writing and publishing field. This is precisely why I want to encourage you to increase your online writing! People need to know who you are and what your areas of expertise are. No matter what kind of writing you do, you can increase your online exposure in a variety of ways, in particular, through article writing and blogs.


Providing relevant information to a target audience establishes you in the field and that’s where you will be found by fans and publishers alike. To date, I have been published at least 400 times, not including any of my blogs or the work I did when I first got started and didn’t keep track of them. If I include those in my numbers, I have close to 1000 pieces of work out there on the internet. Many of those pieces of work were rewarded monetarily immediately, the rest of them have been rewarded in other ways including leads for more paid work. The other big reward for unpaid writing is promotional – the writing pieces are added to my repertoire and they serve to increase my overall online exposure.


If you don’t want to write articles, that’s fine. There are still many ways to write online to increase your reader base while practicing your art. Everybody is online these days – so that’s where you will find your readers, advocates, fans, and publishers. Blogging is one of the best tools because it is steady and consistent: you write and post regularly and as you do, you and your work get noticed.


The bottom line is this: if you are truly passionate about your writing, you will write. The more you write, the better you become. If you want to keep it all private, then that’s your choice, but when you are ready to be noticed, go online because what Randy Ingermanson says about the future of publishing is hot on the target: the future of publishing is definitely via the electronic avenues whether we want to believe it or not.


Thank you, Judy, for sharing this information with our group. I am happy to pass it on to readers of the Nitty Gritty of Writing.

Here is the link to Randy's website.

Here is the link to Randy's predictions.

June Contest: Hubalicious!

Here is a cool contest that looks fun and interesting and it is on-going throughout the whole month of June.

Hubpages is having a “Hubalicious”contest – it is all about food! Some winners are chosen randomly through a daily drawing; others are chosen for content and quality by a panel of judges. Either way, the more you write, the better your chances for winning. Great opportunity – and the only pressure is what you put on yourself.

The overall theme is food and each week focuses on a special category. Within those weekly categories, each day has a particular focus. For example, this week (week 1) the category is ingredients, and each day of the week you can write about different kinds of ingredients: today is dairy; tomorrow will be herbs and spices or extracts and flavoring; and Friday will be meat and poultry or seafood. Next week the category is techniques and daily topics include beans and rice (Tuesday), soups and stocks or sauces (Wednesday), and Barbeque and grilling (Thursday). The category for the third week is recipes and the final week is world cuisines.

I think this contest is a really good opportunity to jump-start your online writing exposure and tempts your motivation with cash prizes. You are flexible and free within each daily and weekly guidelines that you can practice writing to a specific assignment without the pressure of a paying client putting demands on your style.

If you haven’t been to Hub Pages yet or don’t have an account, by all means, head on over there now and get started! It only takes a few minutes to set up your account and it doesn’t cost you a dime. That’s right, it’s FREE! So you see, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Once you set up your account, browse around the site to see how it works and read some “hubs” (that’s what they call the articles on their site). Upload a couple of things you have already written (that aren’t published anywhere else) and sent me a note so I can check out your stuff and become one of your fans!

The Hub Pages June contest is well worth your time so check it out. And remember, somebody is going to win $50.00 every day: it might as well be YOU!