I’ve witnessed extraordinary changes in the realm of writing and publishing since I graduated from the University of Toronto in the early 1980s with a B.A. (Hons) and an English Specialist Certificate. That was the era of typewriters when laptop computers were still unknown. Student essay writers like myself were thrilled when IBM introduced an electric typewriter with a correction key! It used a white ribbon to “white out” the last typed letter and avoid having to apply “Liquid Paper” correction fluid. It also had a spinning ball with the letters.

That was a “gee whiz!” technological innovation in the analog world!

The communications and print industry turned digital later that decade at the time I co-founded a small magazine publishing company in the fall of 1989. One of my partners was trained in the new field of desktop publishing. Our screens were black with orange letters, and I had to use ASCII commands to log in and navigate around, including the famous

C:<ENTER>. I’d insert a floppy disk into the drive in order to load software programs like Ventura to lay out the publication. It was clunky by today’s standards, but at the time it was revolutionary. I recall the first time a columnist contacted me and suggested that rather than send her article to our office by courier (on a floppy disk), she could just “email” it. I remember telling her I didn’t have email yet.

Can you imagine?

Probably young people cannot.

Years ago I took my young sons to a technology museum and showed them that IBM typewriter model — the “Selectric” — telling them what an innovation it was, and that I’d been fortunate to have access to one for my university essays. They were expensive and I got to use one at an office building where I worked as a weekend security guard. My sons literally didn’t believe me.

“Come on, dad!” they said, thinking I was pulling their legs.

The advent of AI is changing things yet again, and I’ll have more to say about that in other articles. I’ll also comment on the Wild West of publishing options; a lot of publishers solicit manuscripts from would-be book authors in ads on Facebook and other platforms. Some are legit and others are not. Whatever options you pursue, I’ll comment more in this space about the importance of good writing and finding your style. And working with an editor who maintains your voice and doesn’t make your project theirs (a
common issue). And I’ll discuss some strategies to crowdfund for your book or other projects in another blog. Watch for it!