Embracing Change

I attended a very useful symposium put on by the The Writers Union of Canada this past Friday called “Secure Footing in a Changing Literary Landscape”.

Well, the literary landscape has not felt secure to most people in the industry. Writers (emerging and established) are finding it harder to find a publisher. Publishers are having trouble surviving within this big-box-gouging era. Independent bookstores are closing their doors. We’re all wondering what to do with e-books, Google lawsuits and social media.

Kind of a bad time to be an author, eh?

And yet the symposium didn’t leave me depressed. Rather, I felt energized and full of new ideas about how to view this strange new publishing-land. I assessed where I’m doing well in a context that demands authors be web/blog/facebook/twitter-savvy and where I can take further steps to reach my audience. I met colleagues and felt a sense of burgeoning community. I remembered why I write and what an important role writers have in society.

A big thanks to Betsy Warland, Ross Laird and Deborah Windsor for facilitating a great day.

PS–if you are a Canadian writer, check out the new Facebook group I set up to help writers share and barter their skills with one another. It was inspired by an activity we did during the workshop.