The path to writing success—even the definition of writing success—has been permanently altered, as discussed in this article highlighting the writing scene and shifting opportunities in Charlottesville, VA, a city that has attracted a fair share of literary luminaries (among them, John Grisham, Ann Beattie, John Casey, and Rita Mae Brown).
As a locale where writing has long been at the heart of the community, some see an opportunity for Charlottesville to become a beacon for independent publishers.
The rise of e-publishing has been hailed as a democratic revolution, an even chance at greatness for writers who haven’t yet “made it” with traditional publishers. It’s especially appealing in a town like Charlottesville, where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a writer, a bookstore, or a book festival attendee (not in mid-March, anyway). But as Chenoweth discovered, the holy grail of a publishing contract is more difficult to reach than ever—unless a writer is prepared to be a marketer, too.
It’s a puzzle local business consultant Bethany Carlson considers daily. She helps writers produce and distribute their work, “which means doing market research and coming up with a business plan, including a budget,” she said. “We use Kickstarter to raise the funds to produce the work professionally. For books, this means pro editing, cover design, sales and marketing, and distribution.” Given the size of this area’s book-minded community, Carlson believes the city “is in a great position to become a center of independent publishing.”
Leeyanne Moore, fiction author, quoted in the article and shown in the lead photo by Elli Williams, casts aside the notion that the only worthy goal is getting published. She says:
There are people who are going to scramble to get published, but I would encourage people to write just because it’s good for you.
What a concept, well worth consideration. . .