IZEAFest 2008
Welcome back!
I’m right now at IZEAFest 2008, which is a conference that’s actually local to me. Since I don’t have to many of those, I jump at the chance to network when I can.
IZEAFest is a blogging, social and new media conference. Now I bet you’re wondering what in the world would a conference like this be for a traditional media genre science-fiction and fantasy writer like me?
Well, there is a lot a traditional writer can learn from new media. At first I dabbled by blogging a little, maybe posting a message on Twitter. Very little involvement to be honest. That all changed a couple of months ago.
I decided to dive in head first into new media by publishing a novel using social networks Plurk and Twitter. Doing this opened my eyes to the possibilities of living in a world where a writer can have multiple paths to releasing their work to the world. It helped me to realize I’m not limited in how I want to reach my readers.
Once I had the “new media epiphany” I then realized I needed to get out and meet more people involved in new media: bloggers, content creators, and social marketers. I’ve learned quite a bit from these people and I believe all traditional media writers can learn quite a bit from new/social media.
To traditional media writers I would say find a blogging conference and go to it. Don’t know too much about blogging? Buy yourself Blogging for Dummies by Susannah Gardner to learn about it and then go to a conference. The operative thing is to get out there and meet other bloggers and learn.
Doing some of the things above will put you on to a great start to putting a new spin on your traditional media.
September 12, 2008 2 Comments
