Being a writer in the 21st century

I don’t think there’s ever been a better time in history to be a writer!

I am confident to say that after attending the London Author Fair in Covent Garden, a great event held under the slogan ’Authors are beginning to understand their power within 21st century publishing’.

Today it really felt like that.

After attending a few different sessions, I had the feeling that the literary agents, the publishers and the self-publishing companies were the ones selling their services to writers. Agents were promoting the traditional publishing model, while self-publishing companies were highliting the self-publishing advantages of being in total control of your work. Others were saying that it was ok to do both. And that’s what’s great about it, that finally we, the writers, have options to choose from and that the publishing industry is no longer an elitist realm we can only dream to be allowed to enter. There are many doors to this realm now and we can go whichever route we want, as long as we understand what they imply and what consequences they have for the kind of writer we want to be.

As for me, so far I’ve got two rejections from literary agents under my belt and I’ve pitched to one at the event today. He seemed curious about the subject but he essentially said that the quality of the writing is what will make it or break it. Which is only fair, but says nothing yet about whether I’ve been successful in pitching to him or not. But at least he said he was curious to read my stuff.

The Love Project will get published one way or another, that I know. Whether it’s going to be a massive success or a modest one, I really don’t care so much about. This book is crying to go out in the world and not for my benefit, but because I think it will make a difference in people’s lives.

And I can honestly say that because, in preparation for this pitch, I sent out the first 3 chapters to a few people for review. And they loved it. And they wanted to read more. And they gave me great feed-back about what was still missing and what else they wanted to read in it. And that’s what matters to me the most. My readers.

So if agents won’t like it or publishers won’t see the business potential in it, don’t matter. This book will make its way to the readers that need it in their lifes, of that I am convinced.