Networking: Third World Countries, Self-Publishing, and Fanfiction
With the advent of the printing press came a weirdly familiar argument: The critics cried, No, it unsanctifies the art of writing! Guten-groupies rolled their eyes and said, Silly ancient people! Keep your tablets, cuz pages are where it's at now.
Today, the "tablet" has made a comeback -- in the form of the iPad and the Kindle. Although it goes by tablet, it is the modern equivalent of the mass-produced print paper that put everyone in such a tizzy back when the printing press was first invented.
I do not own a tablet, so I am slightly unqualified to take a side in the paper v. screen battle of the century. Instead, I want to share this blog about the introduction of eBooks to third world countries and their benefits.
Through the blog Publishing Perspectives, Octavio Kulesz writes about how, in the Western world, the eBook is but an extension of the "Gutenberg industry" (Kulesz). Interestingly, in Africa, physical books are extensions of ebooks. Third world countries find great use for the ebook - it is easy to use, has a seemingly endless capacity for books, and makes reading possible for people of many languages. Because of its growing popularity, Kulesz argues that we must discover the "digital grammar" of every country so that we can better reach out to them.
The next blog I found to be relevant was one of more practical use for anyone in this course who is thinking about self-publishing in the future. Entitled "The Real Costs of Self-Publishing a Book," this article is reliable (published by PBS) and easy to follow. Author Miral Satar explains in very helpful detail each step of the publishing process, also estimating the costs. Overall, knowing these numbers could be very beneficial to potential self-publishers (albeit somewhat daunting.)
Here are some self-publishing sites that might interest you: createspace, Lulu, and blurb.
Many people bypass the publishing drama altogether, however. Instead, they don't publish at all, posting their work directly online with no interest in legalities or profit. And many of such writers are what we call fanfiction writers.
Fanfiction is a word we've all heard only in the softest whispers bouncing around the halls of the English Department. There is something almost forbidden about discussing it, for two reasons: 1) We English majors tend to be very protective of our favorite authors and characters. Therefore, enjoying fanfiction may seem like endorsing thievery to some purists. 2) The material in fanfiction is often, ahem, mature, and therefore uncomfortable for reading. (Once, a fellow creative writing major forced my virgin-to-fanfiction eyes to look upon a piece about the consummation of Hogwarts -- yes, the entire castle -- and a giant squid. Yeah.)
This blog entitled "A Brief History of Fanfiction" dates the beginnings of the practice back to Shakespeare (which I realize may be a touchy subject for diehard Shakespeare fans and anti-fanfiction activists.) The author also discusses contemporary fanfiction and the "in" language that the community speaks and understands -- which was pretty fascinating to me. Overall, the blog is unbiased, straightforward, and certainly interesting (even to critics.)
Extra link for funzies:
At the end of the blog, the author links you to a discussion forum through Whedonesque, a community-run blog about the works of Joss Whedon. In this forum, you can read several people's arguments, both for and against fanfiction.
I hope at least one of these links is helpful and/or interesting to you!