Publishing: Something Old is New Again

Long before we all became publishers creating content and distributing it in real time straight from our phones, there were publishers, reporters, photographers, storytellers and the all important editors who kept everyone honest & succinct.

The reporter/photographer/storyteller has always held a place near and dear to me. One of my favorites was Jack London. He lived something close to the stories he wrote about. He was a restless adventurer who rode trains, shoveled coal, traveled to places most had only read about and went off to seek his fortune in the goldrush of the Yukon. Short stories and magazine work sustained him until his prolific pace of daily writing produced some 50 books over his lifetime. I own a book of his collected photography work which gives insight into the inspiration for his stories. Call of the Wild and White Fang have stood the test of time and are prominent in my collection of books.

The other day, I got an email from my modern favorite reporter turned writer and storyteller, Dan Szczesny. He too practices his art daily by writing some mystical number of words. He uses Facebook to share daily missives and photos and has amassed a loyal following, myself included. Now, in the style of some great classics that began as serialized installments, he has begun a year long process of writing and sharing twelve installments of tales that have come out of his previous book, The White Mountain, now in its third edition. These 12 new tales will be the basis of a book a year from now as we subscribers get first access to the stories as they are created. While the read along print subscription is fully sold out, there is still an opportunity to sign up for the monthly video updates which to my thinking is a unique twist. Supporters become eligible to be able to buy the finished book upon completion.

That something old - is the gathering of a readership via monthly installment. Here again as in the past - this is a limited subscriber print only version. Collected they become the test run for the production of a published book.

That something new - is the use of social media, video updates and a work in progress supported by a team of cheerleaders and supporters. The combination of old and new again is the refreshing reliance on editors and publishers to produce a lovingly crafted product with input from the many who may have first been brought together by author Dan Szczesny through his social media, his book The White Mountain - or the very physical presence of Mount Washington which is the core of this story telling past, present and future. For the marketer, publisher or erstwhile author - this is an opportunity to measure the new rules leading to success. This is an experiment that breaks boundaries and barriers in telling stories.

This is the powerful core of today's content marketing world. Everyone has a story - come along with me and and let's listen to Dan's.