Digital Day for Authors, talk by Anna Foster

Digital Opportunites for older writers

I was asked to give a ten-minute talk on the many opportunities opening up for writers over 50 on the Internet, at this event which took place in Hawkhurst, Kent, on 16th April 2010. In fact, most of the websites mentioned below are aimed at all age groups, so if increasing your writing profile on the web appeals, I hope you find some useful leads here.

I have been lucky enough over the last few years to be involved in an area of writing which has witnessed enormous growth – life-story writing. A number of my customers fall in the over-50s age group, but 50 is the new 40, and indeed, 80 is the new 50. My oldest customer so far, a wonderful lady from the Isle of Sheppey, turned 90 last August. Is Betty plugged in? Yes, but not to a heart monitor, she is plugged into the Internet.

Betty, who completed her autobiography of 50,000 words in time for last Christmas, has pointed me in the direction of a couple of websites which celebrate the writing of older authors.

The first is Bookbite which is run by the charity Booktrust. Booktrust is known for creating the Orange Prize for Fiction and its generous prize of £30,000, among others. Bookbite is aimed at older writers of fiction and non-fiction.

It has just run its inaugural competition for autobiographical writing for the over-60s. It had a more modest prize of £1,000, but has promised that if the event is a success, it will seek a commercial backer and establish an annual book prize to rank alongside the Costa Book of the Year and the Orange.

Bookbite is currently running one competition to write about your street or village, and another to write about a book that has inspired you to do something different in your life. Prizes are smaller still, a £100 Book Token, but when did any of us turn down the opportunity to win £100 worth of books.

Betty, my 90- going on 50-year-old from Sheppey, discovered another good Link. The publisher HarperCollins has launched a website called Authonomy.

HarperCollins describes Authonomy as its social network for writers and booklovers. It aims to find emerging authors, and Mark Johnson, digital producer of the site, said recently that it is attracting a very high number of visitors aged 50 or over. He offers the following as a reason for the trend; that older people not only have more time, but also the experiences and confidence to share their passions.

Authonomy is packed with digital dynamism. From its Home page you can go to its blog, its section on writing tips, join one of its literary forums, and if nothing else, read about the lives of fellow contemporary writers.

The BBC has also played a large role in bringing autobiographical writing and research to a wider public. BBC2’s programme Who do You Think You Are? sparked an early interest in writing memoirs and diaries among older people. It then launched the People’s War website, which gathered thousands of personal accounts from the Second World War into one online archive.

Most recently it has widened its writing initiatives to all age groups with its competition, My Story, for 1,500 word autobiographical articles. The 15 winners will have their stories shown on The One Show in the coming months, and five of these will see their stories turned into books, published by HarperCollins.

But here, I think, is an interesting paradox. My Story is a genuine example of a multi-media event. It was launched on television, it was publicised in libraries through a magazine, and online on its website.

You could enter the competition online, but to ensure it included those who have not yet bought into technology, you could send in a hard-copy, typed manuscript.

The results of the competition will be announced online and on television. But the ultimate prize, for the lucky five, is a good, old-fashioned book. At the end of the day, it seems, you can’t beat a book.

So, is this the future?

If you are interested in writing a book, perhaps a life story, think about where your work might appear. As you prepare your manuscript, you could enter a section of it for a competition like the BBC’s My Story, and you could tell potential readers about it on your Facebook page.

You could also write your own blog, create a website for the book and record yourself on video for YouTube

You may be doing some of these already, but the days of just simply writing your manuscript and sending it off to your agent or publisher, are all but over.

What do I think? I still enjoy going into a High Street bookshop. Do I also buy off Amazon? Sure. I like to read a book in bed at night time, but I also love browsing the web, setting off into a maze of Links, not sure where it will take me, but knowing I can escape through simply clicking on Close.

I read entries to some of the competitions I’ve mentioned above. I also recently caught up with Patti Smith’s readings from her autobiography on iPlayer (originally on Book of the Week on Radio 4).

I like a website called www.meettheauthor.co.uk where authors introduce their books in their own words, using video, YouTube-style.

You will probably know about six-word memoirs. Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” An American website www.smithmag.net challenged the public to come up with their own six word memoirs. The result: a thriving, active website, a book (of course) in the New York Times bestseller list, and endless spin-offs, including T-shirts. This website makes money. Believe me.

On my own website, www.youbyyou.co.uk, I have a story-telling section, called It Happened To Me, which includes short pieces of writing about funny, sad and remarkable events in people’s lives. Please log on and read a few, and even write your own. I encourage the authors I work with to put a story up on the website, while they are working on their book with me.

I would also encourage you to embrace the technology which is available. Books are part of this, they have not been left behind, and I don’t believe they will be, but having your work read and discussed on the web is the next step. Be part of it.

What do you think? Please email me at YouByYou and I will post your comments below. Any suggestions for other useful websites welcome. Thank you!