By Anthony Mays
Not in the so distant past, an author could only
compete for readers by using established publishing houses. Those houses were
very selective in the manuscripts they chose to print. Unless you were a
well-recognized name, or just plain lucky, most authors submitting their work
rarely stood a chance. Enter vanity publishing where authors pay to have their
work printed, usually only in large numbers. If you are good at hustling, maybe
you manage to eke out a living from writing. Print-on-demand, which is only about
seven years old, is now the predominant method for printing books. But who
reads hard copy, right?
Amazon opened a whole new world to wannabe
authors — eBooks — lots of eBooks. eBooks spun from the classics, well-known
authors, and authors by the tens of thousands. It may be surprising for you to
believe, but eBooks originated in the 1930s. It wasn’t until 1998 however, that
eBook readers began to be mass-produced. At about the same time, libraries
began providing eBooks to the public through their web sites. Amazon didn’t
come out with the Kindle reader for almost another ten years. However, others
noticed the potential from Amazon’s foray into eBooks and jumped onboard.
Further separating independent authors from
potential readers (listeners) is the audiobook. Audio readings can be traced
back to vinyl records. In September 1935, President Roosevelt signed an
executive order funding the Talking Books project and placed the American
Foundation for the Blind in charge of it. In the 1960s, the baton was passed at
the invention of the cassette tape. Then came the Internet, new compressed
audio formats, and portable players. The attraction to audiobooks increased
considerably during the late 1990s and 2000s. Books on tapes dominated during
this period but became nearly obsolete by the introduction of book CDs in 2002.
But even CDs reached their peak in 2008; losing ground in favor of digital
downloads (MP3). The resurgence of audio storytelling is widely attributed to
advances in mobile technologies and multimedia entertainment systems. Overall,
audiobook sales in digital format have increased year-over-year since 2014.
Nonetheless, recording an average-size novel into an audio book is a very
expensive proposition that preclude most authors from using this format.
Lately, a new competitor has taken form — flash
fiction. Now, writing a story, often with 1,000 words or fewer, has drawn even
more writers to the table. A lot less daunting than producing a longer piece of
work, flash writing is filling a niche demanded by many of today’s readers.
Consensus is, the amount of time we have for
reading has dwindled and continues to force these changes. We no longer have
the time to dedicate to reading as we did twenty, ten, or even five years ago.
And, much of that time is now being shared with social media platforms. We want
it fast, and we want it now.
Are novelists too late to the party as authors?
Has reading becoming a lost art? Only time will tell.
DO YOU KNOW THIS AUTHOR?Probably
not, BUT YOU SHOULD. Anthony Mays was honored to be added to the Illinois
Authors Wiki, a project of the Illinois Center for the Book. The project is a
comprehensive resource for information on authors, photographers, and
illustrators who have published books and have lived in Illinois or written
about Illinois. Anthony's first novel, Halfway to a Southern Heart, was
inspired by John Grisham's A Painted House. Grisham's book was made into a
television movie in 2003 and the house used in the movie set still stands in
the rural community south of downtown Lepanto, Arkansas. Anthony's third
novel, Halfway to the Truth, is hailed as eco-fiction at its best and has
received the LiFE (Literature for Environment) Award for his use of electronic
waste as the story plot. This fictional thriller moves the reader from the
shipyards of Savannah, Georgia to a hazardous electronic waste site in the horn
of Africa and explores its environmental and health impact. Anthony Mays, the
author of several ‘halfway to’ themed books, chose to use the expression based
on his road travels around the country. Seemingly, he was halfway to his
destination when a character, plot, or location came to his imagination taken
from the things he saw along his way. Throughout the remainder of the trip, a
strong, mental outline followed on how he planned to use those elements in a
story. Now he is excited to continue to take pieces of his life experiences and
mold them into fictional works of art for your enjoyment. For more information
please visit at www.anthony-mays.com
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