Elementary Writing

Change the way you read, start writing now!

Elementary Writing

In this article we discuss how Internet and Social Media Networks are going to change irretrievably the way fiction literature is created and consumed. You will also be privileged to take a first glance on what we call a new phase in evolution of literature or New Age Elementary Writing phenomenon, where available technology allows readers, writers, editors, publishers, designers and many others involved, to take active roll in shaping the new fiction writings interactively.

You may wish to experience how it works in practice first, by going straight to Make Literature Online project homepage, that Elementary Writing Blog is a part of. Or, if you wish more insight information and to learn why this is one of the hottest literature related topics these days, please proceed with next passages.

Dumbledore came out of the closet

Have you ever wondered how many authors react to fans in the writing of the stories?

In the normal run of things writing is a lonely occupation. Authors are guided by their inspiration, that they scoop largely from the environment and personal experiences.

Let’s face the fact: writers are still fully in control of entire creative process in what is going to happen between book covers. It is quite natural that if you are aware of the contexts in your surroundings, and you have your critical stands about it, and you are willing to deploy your influence in changing the reality, you may establish interaction between that reality and your creative work. This is really fascinating feature of the modern literature.

But if we take a closer look at the contexts themselves, in the 21st century, in the age of the Internet and mass media, when whole world is just a large extension of your backyard, you can find it everywhere. You can also have global influence like never before in the history and with that influence comes the huge responsibility too. Put it in simple words: You sell your books in 400 million copies around the world, and more than a billion of readers are your followers (yea’, we are talking about the Harry Potter edition, statistics by Wikipedia), and still you can watch the morning news and find some creative itch to your social engagement momentum…and voile, Dumbledore is gay! (you may track back this story here)

Good News First – Good old Book is holding well

Many will ultimately stand behind the exclusive right of the authors on their creative process isolation. They claim that something that was working well for the mankind much before Gutenberg age, and still works fine today should not be changed. Indeed, the figures are there to testify:

The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) in 2008 edition of Book Industry TRENDS, the comprehensive view of U.S. book publishing dollar and unit sales estimates that total publishers’ net revenues in 2007 reached $37.26 billion, up 4.4 percent over 2006’s total, and that unit sales in 2007 reached nearly 3.127 billion. TRENDS projections show revenues reaching nearly $43.5 billion and units at 3.15 billion by the end of 2012.

But what these figures may tell us about the vitality of the media to adapt to changed social circumstances, about its ability to satisfy new and growing requirements of population of new technology aware consumers.

If the context is literature itself, and I am coming to my point here, fiction writing is a rare verse in the tale of modern society that is not “wikisized” jet. In any other industry, expertise, creative energy and before all, hours, month and years of market research from many highly qualified experts has been invested to development of just one product to satisfy a single consumer’s need.

While the creativity, authority and influence of the author in its traditional personification should not be compromised by any means, new online environment  and contemporary community and social networking contexts leverage the idea of distribution of that influence between authors and readers.

Literature and technology make natural alliance that slowly but steadily change the environment in which book medium is created and consumed.

Lets bring some ultimate authority to these claims by taking you back to the future!

Men who invented Internet had New kind of Book in Mind

In 1934, Belgian inventor Paul Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” – or arguably, “web.”

Predicting technology is a perilous thing – remember the famous quote from IBM President Thomas Watson, who said “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”.

So here is what this marvelous visionary knew in 1934 that we are starting to acknowledge right now:

“From a distance, everyone will be able to read text, enlarged and limited to the desired subject, projected on an individual screen. In this way, everyone from his armchair will be able to contemplate creation, as a whole or in certain of its parts.

“Phonographs, radio, television, telephone — these instruments taken as substitutes for the book will in fact become the new book, the most powerful work for the diffusion of human thoughts. This will be the radiated library, and the televised book.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwRN5m64I7Y[/youtube]

New Phase in Evolution of the Literature – Be first to embark

Internet is all about giving you the control and power of exploring the content that reflects your requirements. So next time you go to the cinema to watch that superhero supernatural mega production “behind giga trailer” box office destroyer, you will first go for friendly recommendation on your favorite forum or social network site. Usually, you would go after something completely different as an aftermath.

Similar criteria apply when searching for good reading. You have the idea of what you like and you want to be sure that it is what you are looking for even before you start reading. That imposes many new hurdles to the writers and publishers. They are first who should recognized the full potential of new environment, and start using all benefits of the available technologies (Internet, Emails, Instant Messaging, RSS feeds, Twitter, just to mention few) to make contact with their audience and start listening. As if they do not, they will lose a grip to their followers who embraced the technology as not only necessity but the culture of living.

This new level of interaction brings us finally to what may be perceived as new stage in evolution of the literature or New Age Elementary Writing phenomenon: full collaboration between readers and writers in writing a new fiction.

Fiction Books as the Literature Community Projects

Here, it is important to make the clear distinction with many collaborative writing try-outs that may be observed on Internet these days. They have just devaluated whole concept of Collaborative authoring and self-publishing by merely had been exploiting the enormous power of the Internet as media.

What we are anticipating here is the Literature Project Management model in which the ultimate goal is new Fiction Book publishing, by collaborative effort of the dedicated online community.

That new literature platform that meets all the requirements is finally available! Its name is: Make Literature Online Project:

By providing free, open and intelligent Collaborative environment, Make Literature Online project for the first time integrates all available Online technologies in order to build well structured and productive system, for Authors, Writers and Readers of all interests and skill levels, allowing everyone to make the most of the Collective Wisdom and creativity of a vibrant community.

The system is organized around specific Fiction Book Projects. It is run by automated but supervised project management, that intelligently guides the process through many competitive, selection stages, from defining the initial idea, plot end/or the storyline, to the chapter submissions and even the cover design set up. Through all these stages, readers and writers are equally involved in constructing the most preferable outcomes, by submitting ideas, writing new chapters, reviews, comments, articles, blog posts etc. The result is the ultimate and complete fiction literature experience, and solid state Fiction Work (novel, short story collection, fiction book…) that is neatly tailored by the avid anticipation of both writers and readers in charge.

With Make Literature Project on roll, Fiction literature exploring, reading, writing and publishing had never been more accessible and attractive for the online community. And everyone who has something to say is welcome to try and make its own unique mark on the face of new – more exciting then ever before – fiction literature.

Visit Make Literature Online project site ››

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P.S.T.
For those of you that are not just literature fans but the Geeks also, these are some fresh industry updates:

Supporting Facts and Trends Report

• 2008 was a big year for the e-Book faithful, with the significant market propagation of Amazon’s Kindle and Sony eBook Reader
• The successful experiments with delivery of digital books on revolutionary new mobile devices like the iPhone
• $100-laptop (commonly referred to as the XO) and the formalization of a standard e-Book file format (known as ePub).

According to www.publishersweekly.com:

In addition to being the Year of the Author, 2008 will be remembered as the Year of the Experiment. Initiatives like the widgets used by HarperCollins and Random House, the video trailers produced by Simon & Schuster, the publishing to cell phones being enabled by Mobifusion and tried by several publishers, and Macmillan’s call to employees for ideas for the company to bankroll show a growing awareness that publishing companies need to create a culture of experimentation.

Tags: Elementary Writing, Literature Online, Writing, Writing Literature Online