Blogoversary; Helen Boyle Guest Post

Hey Guys!
Today I have an amazing guest post from the inspiring fiction editor at Templar Publishing, Helen Boyle. She has written a post about how much the industry has changed since the internet started to become more prevalent in our lives. I really enjoyed her post and hope that you find it interesting too!

The Brave New Digital World

A post from Templar Fiction Commissioning editor Helen Boyle (@tbktweet) facebook.com/templarfiction @templarbooks

Blogging, tweeting, pinning, tagging, liking, linked in, retweets, trolls, klout scores, followers, good reads, apps, eBooks, ipads. All language now very much part of most editors and pr’s lives in the world of publishing. It’s a brave new digital world that changes continually but one that offers an exciting landscape where connecting with your readers, reviewers and customers is just one click/tweet/post away.

But it used to be such a different story. Now I hate to admit this, as it shows my age, but I remember when journalists or magazines would call in a cover image and you’d post or bike them a cover flat for scanning. When selecting an image from a photo library came as a set of slides to consider. When putting a teeny flash of foil on a cover was a BIG deal and reserved for major season leads. Press cuttings came on green sheets from a cuttings service to be copied to send to authors and kept in rusty filing cabinets.

Marketing departments revolved around dump bins and display bins, themed event days and character costumes. Now, as well as high profile advertising campaigns, they organise virtual tours, viral campaigns, digital advertising, videos, shareable assets, and initiate and develop digital conversations in a whole realm of digital spheres and networks.

Ten years ago we relied on a small select group of newspaper reviewers, (many of whom we still rely on) and respected and treasured librarians, (many of whom are threatened with extinction) and a handful of active kids magazines to spread the word about a new author, book or series.

But in today’s digital domain, there are armies of active bloggers, lovers of literature, champions of YA, middle grade, NA, non-fiction, picture books and all things book related. Wonderful, excitable, devouring readers of all ages, who spread the word with you, and who champion and welcome authors into this brave new digital world.

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and social media can also help authors connect with other authors, via shared interests and loves. No long the isolated, ivory writer’s tower but a veritable cacophony of digital voices. Bloggers may often be shy and retiring in person, but online and amongst kindred spirits, they are kings and queens of content, vocal in their views, vociferous in their reading, extensive in their knowledge, gracious, grateful and gregarious in pixels and 140 characters. And most of them do it for the love of it, with no financial recompense or incentive. How amazing is that?

That’s why I love blogs, Twitter, and all the exciting forms of social media out there – because they connect me with fellow bibliophiles. It’s like walking into a wonderful independent bookstore, full of exciting titles, conversations and people wanting to recommend their favourite books to me.

Publishers are excited and (sometimes scared) by the swiftness of digital developments, but I for one, am super-glad to be navigating through it with book bloggers, tweeters, likers, pinners and posters by my side.

And just for the hell, here are some astounding social media facts that will blow your socks off. We’ve come along way in the last few years, imagine where we’ll be in ten years time?

• Facebook’s 1.15 billion members make it the third largest nation in the world!
• There are more than 250 million tweets and 800 million Facebook status updates published every single day.
• If Wikipedia were made into a book, it would be 2.25 million pages.
• 21% of the world’s internet population are using Twitter every month.
• Over six billion hours of videos are watched every month on YouTube.
• The first blogs appeared in 1998. Today, there are more 70 million active blogs.
• 30% of the world’s entire population is now online, and social networking is the most popular and time-consuming online activity.

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Thank you so much Helen for that informative and intriguing post! It certainly does make you think how much has changed and imagine how much will continue to change in the future! What do you think of this post? What about the stats posted?

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Clue!