Tradition + Innovation = Success

By Susan Goodsell - Aug 31 , 2009

“Raising the Bar” was the topic of a fantastic presentation that Norm Dominguez, CEO of BNI, delivered at a recent networking mixer in Southern California. I’m still walking through my week with a spring in my step, pumped up with motivation, and I wanted to share a bit of what I learned with you.

Tradition + Innovation = Success

This formula has led to BNI’s success as the world’s most successful business referral organization, yet I immediately began to see parallels for writers. While there are few industries boasting the rich traditions of the book industry, the fact is you cannot succeed in today’s market without keeping abreast of those innovations.

Being born at the tail end of the baby boomer generation, my jumping on the technology bandwagon has not come easy to me. I started writing back when articles were typed for submission (the day I traded in my clunky IBM Selectric typewriter for a sleek Italian Olivetti was a high point for me!), then a cover letter typed, everything placed in an envelope, taken to the post office, and mailed. Then the wait began—and weeks later the mailbox would yield either a check (happy day!) or a politely-worded rejection letter (sad day).

Times they are a changin’, my friends! From faxes to email to cell phones to twitter, communicating is advancing at warp speed! And as much as I wouldn’t trade the MacBook Pro I’m using to type this for that former state-of-the-art Olivetti, in the interest of full disclosure I will say I have been drawn into these tech advances dragging my feet.

Here are a few suggestions on how, as writers, we can use technological innovations to increase our productivity, credibility, and, ultimately, our bottom line:

• One of my favorites is the online access to research, grammar and word usage at sites such as online dictionaries, and even urban dictionaries (for us non-Gen X or Gen Y-ers!).

• Fact checking is incredibly easy with sites such as encyclopedia.com and Wikipedia. (Remember pulling out volume after volume of the musty encyclopedia set in grandma’s basement when we were writing that middle school paper on President Taft?)

• Take advantage of social networking sites. For business, I use linkedin and ecademy. As a step further, join a writers’ group or check for publishing bulletin boards to participate in or simply to read. Twitter, the micro-blogging site, has been fun and useful to me. I suggest posting (“tweeting”) links to your published articles – it’s great to see them forwarded and can be a form of free marketing for writers.

• If you’re trying to increase productivity, you truly need to check out The Writers’ Technology Companion, which has a plethora of useful tools, applications, and software for writers.

• Get up-to-the-minute news about the book industry by subscribing to sites such as Beneath The Cover. You’ll find press releases and tips on writing, publishing and marketing. I love the “Recommended Reading” section, which searches 700+ book industry blogs “so you don’t have to!”

Keep the traditions, the core values, of your profession, but also embrace the innovations that make writing and marketing easier for you. If you, like me, are a bit, uhh, technologically challenged, just find a teenager for some tutoring!

As for me, I think I’ll celebrate the completion of another article by tweeting my success!