Congratulations! You’re A Published Author

I teach a communications class every spring semester at a local college. This January, I polled my class and asked the question, “How many of you are published authors?” No one raised a hand. I told them that within a day they would not only be authors, but also publishers. Then I explained how they would start a blog that next day. Within 24 hours, they all had their first post on their first blog. They were now publishers and published authors. Each student’s words were readable by anyone on the Internet. Once again, the Web has taken something that was almost impossible (getting published) for someone (an author) and made it incredibly easy.

OK, you say, a blog is one thing, but what about being the published author of a real live book…the kind you can hold and show off sitting on the coffee table. Well, now it is easier than ever to self-publish a book (Fast Company story here) you’ve authored with a service such as Blurb. With Blurb, it costs as little as $30 to get your own hard cover book. As the Fast Company story points out, only two percent of the 1.2 million books printed every year ever sell 5000 copies. You still have to write it. You still have to convince others to read it. However, now you don’t have a publisher barring the door between your words and a finished product.

The whole digital book-publishing scenario is sure to change the industry. No one seems to quite know how things will change, but it will bring new options to the table for both author and readers. In the meanwhile, if you want to be a published author, the road to your goal just got easier and shorter.