In the past, publishing was an arduous process for authors and editors alike. Authors who wanted to publish their short stories, articles, reviews, editorials, and poetry had to find a journal, magazine, or newspaper which accepted solicitations from unaffiliated authors. It should go without saying that very few of these journals, magazines, and newspapers accepted solicitations from writers who did work there full time.
Once authors had accomplished this important first step, they had to print at least three or four copies of their manuscript on glossy, high quality paper. Then they had to purchase at least two large envelopes. The first envelope would contain all three or four copies of the manuscript; it was usually sent to the editors or publishers who worked at the magazines, journals, and newspapers. The second envelope was a self addressed and stamped return envelope that authors included to ensure that they received a reply from the editors and publishers. Finally, authors had to draft a short cover letter explaining to the editors and publishers why they believed that their manuscript should be published in the journals, magazines, and newspapers to which they submitted their work. If authors completed all of these steps, they could expect to hear back from the editors within one calendar year.
It goes without saying that this process was extremely cumbersome. Today, however, digital technologies such as blogs and bookmark managers online have streamlined the process. Instead of submitting their manuscripts to editors and publishers, writers can cut out the middle men and publish their works on online journals or blogs. In essence, these blogs allow authors to act as their own editors, accepting or rejecting their own work as they see fit.
Although most authors agree that blogs are extremely convenient and easy to use, some authors worry that their work will become lost amid the thousands of other blogs which are created each and every day by other authors. To alleviate their fears, programmers have developed bookmark manager online technologies which allow authors to circulate their content to thousands (if not millions) of readers every day. Some of the most popular online bookmark managers automatically post blog content to the authors’ social media profiles; by doing so, these bookmark managers ensure that each and every one of the authors’ Facebook friends and Twitter followers sees the link to the blog.
Additionally, these online bookmark managers allow readers to virtually follow their favorite authors and writers. Rather than take time out of their busy days to check their favorite authors’ blogs and online journals, readers can tell these online bookmark managers to send them alerts which notify them whenever their favorite authors have posted new blog content. Readers with smartphones can even tell these bookmark managers to send the new blog content directly to their phones so that they can read it on their lunch breaks at work or at school. Thanks to bookmark managers, no longer must readers wait weeks or months to read their favorite authors’ works; thanks to bookmark managers, they can read them whenever they want and however they want.
