Time to Write

Writing to Change the World

Over at tompeters.com you'll always find an interesting new interview each month. One I missed when it was first added back in 10/06 is with psychologist Mary Pipher, author of "Writing to Change the World" (I haven't read the book yet but plan to correct that soon).

One of her key points is that if you want to get people to consider serious topics that they'd rather not think about, you have to use humor: "I think that the only way you can hold a person's attention is if you make them laugh, if you tell them a great story, or if you form a strong, trusting, intimate relationship with the reader. They'll stay with you because they like you. Those are techniques I use when I'm talking about something that people don't want to deal with directly."

Another of her insights about how to help people change: "It's funny, because when we ask someone to do difficult tasks, it's a natural tendency to try to bolster our credibility by saying that we do them. But it's probably better to confess how hard it is for us to do them. For example, I don't eat shrimp because of the way shrimp are farm fished. It's very destructive to local ecosystems. It's one of the number one things you can do to save the wetlands of the planet. I love seafood. When I go to a restaurant with people who know that I like seafood, they'll point out a shrimp dish on the menu. I'll tell them that I don't eat shrimp and why. But when I do, I tell them how utterly hard it is for me and how every time I go to a restaurant I'm tempted to just throw that out the window. Then I'll probably mention a few other things that I do that are really terrible for the environment. Otherwise, people think you're just a pontificating know-it-all. You really have to work hard to defuse that with people."

(Have a look at the "Cool Friends" section of Tom Peters' website for other fascinating interviews.)

Questions Bloggers Get Asked a Lot

A New Way to Distribute Your Novel

The New York Times has an article (see it here) about authors who have found a new way to distribute their novels: via podcasts. For example, sci-fi novelist Scott Siglar recorded his first book, "EarthCore" in 22 episodes, each 45 minutes long. He posted it online for free downloads. The book was downloaded 30,000 times, which was enough to attract a small publisher to put out the book.

The Times identifies Podiobooks.com as a pioneering site for this kind of effort (it was founded by Evo Terra, the author of "Podcasting for Dummies"). On the site you'll find guidelines for recording a book and other useful information if this is a path you may want to consider. The site suggests a donation of $9.99 per downloaded title, with 3/4 of that going to the author, the rest to the site to cover expenses. You can listen to a sample of each book to hear whether the style of the book appeals to you and how you like the author's voice--after all, for a full-length book you'll be spending a lot of time with that voice in your ears.

Of course this approach still leaves the writer with the challenge of getting people to go to the site and to download his or her book, but it's an interesting option. I'm going to explore it further, so watch this space!