David Wilk on his favorite topic: Publishing

If you are an author serious about selling your work in today’s ever-changing market, mark these two Write Stuff conference sessions by David Wilk as “must see”: “The Writer as Entrepreneur” and “The New Rules for Writers Who Want to Master New Media Tools and Online Marketing.”

From his home base in southern Connecticut, David operates Creative Management Partners, which provides authors with a full suite of publishing services, from editorial to sales and marketing. His role morphs according to his client’s needs: one day he might help a client develop a marketing or self-publishing strategy, and the next he might execute that client’s plans for him/her, all or in part.

Simply put, David is a publisher who has functioned under many different guises. He has owned or operated at least six different publishing imprints at various times in his life, as well as managed imprints for companies for whom he worked. He has been closely involved in the publishing of hundreds of titles as distributor, sales or marketing manager, or publishing consultant, including a number of best sellers. Print, electronic publishing, digital marketing strategies—David has done it all. Working with writers and publishers to help them connect with readers is his primary work. Writing and editing words in any media remains his primary passion.

What follows is an interview Conference Chair Kathryn Craft conducted with David.

Kathryn: Writers attend The Write Stuff to learn more about craft, to network, and to beef up their publishing industry IQ. Let’s start with a definition. With so much of the industry in flux, how would you define “publishing”?

David: Publishing is the interface between the writer and the reader, whatever that looks like in practice. I’m coming to The Write Stuff conference to help writers understand how the business of publishing works now and what they need to do if they want to make their way in the latest and still evolving ecosystem of books and readers.

K: How did you educate yourself in so many areas of the publishing industry?

D: Learning by doing. I have been involved in writing, editing, publishing, book wholesaling, distribution, sales, marketing, and online business going back to 1970. I am deeply interested in every aspect of the business of books and its meaning and impact on our culture.

K: Are you a writer? If so, what is/are your area(s) of interest?

D: I have always been most interested in writing poetry and experimental prose and continue to write sporadically. These days my writing tends more toward the expository—explorations of culture, technology and change, as well as political involvement with issues relating to ecology and climate change.

More from David, including his involvement with a New York Times bestseller, in next week’s blog.

Readers: do you have questions about how your own project fits into today’s publishing industry? Do you wonder how the future will affect writers, e-publishing, e-reading, royalties, the role of agents? Do you want help developing a strategy for marketing or self-promotion? Do you wonder whether self-publishing would work for you? Then you’ll want to talk to David. As a Write Stuff conferee, this opportunity is available—for FREE! While he doesn’t want to talk about specifics of writing, he will give opinions on subjects, concepts, and marketability for the first five conferees to sign up for a ten-minute consultation with him. So don’t delay—make sure your Write Stuff registration is postmarked January 15!

And watch for an announcement—the conference website will soon go live!