Technology advances mean the world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Five years ago, who’d have thought social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, having an online presence via a Web site and blog would be so important to so many, suck up so much time and be in the news so often? Who’d have thought many would send thousands of texts a month, text instead of talking, and that we’d go to a restaurant and see more people focusing on their phones than on their friends?
Newspapers and magazines are disappearing from our front doors and mailboxes and landing on our PC screens. E-readers like the Kindle, combined with the closing of so many brick and mortar book stores and decreased shelf space for books in other stores that now host cafes and have broadened their product offerings, make it more challenging to wander into a store and discover a new author.
Somehow we survived in the days before answering machines, much less cell phones that we put on the table when we’re having lunch lest we miss something. The rapid pace of digital technology enhancements requires many of us to adapt, willingly or not… or miss out on opportunities.
The pace of the acting industry seems to be ever faster. A couple of weeks ago I turned off my phone for an hour and fifteen minutes…and lost a booking. This week I was sent an audition that had to be recorded at home and submitted ASAP. I’ve booked several rush jobs recently…a call at 5:30 pm for a job the next morning, a call at 12:20 pm for a job at 9 that night. Yes, the clients had chosen my voice for their projects. But given the short turnaround time, who knows what might have happened if I wasn’t immediately available to accept the work.
And developments in the writing world, such as Harlequin’s newly announced e-publishing division, Carina Press, raise myriad questions about the future of publishing, book pricing and author compensation.
I have not yet broached e-reading beyond downloading a couple of books. To me reading online– when I spend so many hours on the computer already–isn’t as enjoyable as holding a book in my hands. I only like shopping online for books when I know what I’m looking for; all the scrolling makes me dizzy. I don’t have the patience to “look inside” a bunch of books online the way I’ve done in a store.
How are you embracing change?
Change is scary! But I do it anyway.