I Have Seen the Future!

I recently went to the Technology in the Arts Conference sponsored by CMU in Pittsburgh, and I’m still reeling a little. (It’s a brilliant annual conference, full of fascinating artists, tech wizards, and arts organization managers, by the way, and I recommend it highly to anyone with an interest in the subject.) By nature, with technology I’m a middle adapter. I was pretty quick to get an email address, and even hosted a long running writers’ chat on AOL, but I was very slow to get a cell phone - but then, I’m a writer, and would rather type than talk any day. The world, however, has apparently moved far beyond email and mobiles. In Pittsburgh, I learned that the future lies with texts, blogs, and social networking.


A number of my sessions were on arts marketing, and although they weren’t directly about writing, it was pretty obvious that in the 21st century, in order for writers to build audiences and market their work, social networking will be key. And this doesn’t just mean building your email list and burying everyone you ever met in announcements of your new books, publications, and readings. Here’s the bad news – 80% of all email never gets opened. Even if people know who you are, unless they think there’s something really exciting in it for them, they just won’t make the effort to look at the contents. And almost no one clicks on internal links, so don’t assume you’re sending them to your Web site from your email. (I confess, that when I thought about it, I realized that this was all too true. Even if the email is from acquaintances, they are really better off putting those publication announcements or reading dates in the subject line – because otherwise I’m just not going to open it. I probably get fifty emails a day, divided between professional, social, and people trying to get me to buy something – and that’s not counting the spam!)

Well, more on this later, as I continue to digest, and in the meantime, as Hilary always says - Keep Writing!