The Author as Publisher: The New Functions of You

Clay Shirky says that publishing is a button. The publisher in me bristles at the idea, but he may be right. You can fight this concept, or you can embrace it. If every writer can now publish his/her work using the New Tools, and connect directly with an interested, engaged audience, then haven’t things changed?

It’s time to be realistic. This is bad for publishers, but potentially very good for you.

You are an author. You are a content creator. The 21st century will be good to you, if you know how to make use of the tools it has to offer.

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You can read the whole piece here; it’s from an article I wrote that was published by the EdTech Times yesterday. It’s the third in a column called the “Good Content Series.” Though this series is focused on educators, I’ve tried to keep it general so that it can benefit anyone who’s producing content.