Writers as celebrities.
The latest trend: writers becoming a celebrities of the type and calibre of Madonna or Bieber. Authors like Rowlings and Junot and the Green brothers, are mobbed at book signings and revered like pop stars. This kind of hysterical reaction by adoring fans tends to be scorned by the serious "literary' author, but the truth is that the days of the shy retiring genius scribbling in an obscure attic and known only by his or her writings is gone forever. Today self promotion is the name of the game.
Anyone embarking on a literary career would probably do better to take a course in advertising or public speaking rather than a degree in Eng.Lit or Creative Writing. Looking good and talking well is what is needed to sell your product.
Facebook, Twitter etc. are probably to thank for this state of affairs. It is incredible to me how, in my lifetime, first computers and then the Internet has changed the world. Dire profesies about the demise of books and the loss of the ability to read are just not being fulfilled. It seems to me that people are reading and writing more not less. They are just doing it differently and more publicly.
Being forced to sell oneself as well as what one writes may be hard on modern authors, but like most readers I find it interesting to get to know the personality behind the books that I enjoy. Getting out in front of one's readership is just something that modern writers have to come to terms with.
I must say, having listened to the recordings of some poets, even famous ones, reading their works, I have thought that the odd lesson in what used to be called "elocution' when I was at school would not have come amiss in their early education.
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