RPJ 2: Books vs the World Wide Web

Currently trying to remember the last time I went to the library and checked out a book to write a report or essay. It might have been in high school — my freshman year. My teacher was trying to get the class used to the Dewey Decimal system and assigned us a subject and find a book to write an essay about it. That was the last time I went to the library to find a book for research.

Don’t get me wrong: I love books. I got an E-reader for Christmas a few years ago that gathered dust in a drawer for a year because I was astounded anyone could give up the feel and almond-y smell of worn books. Alas, when I discovered how much cheaper college textbooks are via eBooks, I quickly dusted off my Kindle and celebrated its ingenuity (and the savings. Oh, the savings).

I love books. But I am also a child of the digital age. I have been using the Internet since dial-up was a thing (oh, it’s still a thing? Tragic). I knew how to google something before I even knew what Google was. So while I love a good page-turner, most of the information I have ever consumed has come via web and that is okay. The way information is absorbed does not matter. But it is important to understand that these are two very different mediums. Here is a couple key differences:

Web publication eschews the traditional division of labor seen in book publication.

When an author seeks to write a book and publish a book, there are generally couple of obstacles. They have to find a publisher. Then find a distributor. And there is a couple of hurdles before and in between these steps. With web content, the creator is the author, who is also the editor, who is also the publisher, and who may also be the distributor. The only obstruction is a lack of a solid Internet connection.

The Web is not a fixed space.

So, the Web is huge. Think Milky-Way galaxy-huge (might be a slight over-exaggeration — or is it?). The Web is indefinite and navigable. Carroll describes it as “a space people move through rather than a series of pages read in a particular order.” Earlier in this post, I included a link to a website about book publishing. If you clicked it, you know a little bit more about book publication. If you didn’t, shame on you. Being able to consume information from one page that links to another page with more relevant information is quite innovative when contrasted with the fixity and linearity of books. Books may contain references; but one has to expend time and effort to seek those references versus it taking a single click or a single search.

So I simplified it to books versus the web, but what it really comes down to print media versus digital media. They have to be compared. One is slowly (rather quickly, actually) becoming more and more obsolete. Though some bookseller chains are (barely) hanging in there, the time of visiting a library to find a book about obscure Medieval torture methods is over. Now it’s a simple Google or Bing search away. Books are still awesome, in my humble opinion. It is just that the turn of a page has become a click or swipe in the new digital age.

And that is even more awesome.

But wait, you really want to know how awesome digital media is? I just googled ‘best practices for writing on Medium’. And I learned a couple of things:

Image is everything- Find an image that is relevant to your topic and that resonates with your target audience i.e using a picture of colorful fish when talking about marine life.

Headlines are important, too- Pictures are cool, but it is not enough to get a sizable volume of readers. Your headline should be relevant to the subject, but it should not give away the entirety of the article. For example, make your headline a question; but don’t answer it in the headline.

Put some work into it- Medium makes its editing tools pretty simple to use. Make reading your articles somewhat interesting by inserting images or gifs. Also, do not rush. The more TLC you put in your article, the bigger and better the response it will get.

Do not beg to be liked- Your work should speak for itself. Do not go around pleading for likes and retweets. Of course, you want your work shared so you can grow your audience. But don’t be pushy. Start by asking people you know for a Facebook share or Tumblr repost.

Medium is a great tool. Use it wisely.