Mohawk Valley Traditions Part II

     Yesterday I wrote about some of the ways that our "little" valley supports one another in times of troubles and shares in each other's triumphs.  I also referred to the trend of "going local" in order to support local businesses, growers and artisans.  Today I would like to talk a bit more about the "go local" initiative that many industries have adopted and how this initiative can be applied to show support for our local authors.

    

      In 2010, American Express launched it's Small Business Saturday program to help small, local business boost sales on the day after Black Friday, and two days before Cyber Monday (wikipedia).   The American Express website has this to say about the program:         

                                 
              "Did you know that every dollar that you spend [locally] can impact your community?  By participating in 'Buy Local' initiatives consumers have helped local businesses more than double their average revenue, and . . . you're not only supporting the local economy, you're helping provide more jobs for your neighbors."

How this information impacts local authors

     From working with several local authors this past year, I have come to realize that these authors are not just writers looking to have their fifteen minutes of fame.

     Local authors have to work much harder than the more famous, nationally known authors at their craft for a number of reasons:

• They are not bearing their souls to nameless and faceless masses of people; the people that first see their published writing are family, friends, neighbors and coworkers.  Their critics and supporters are people that they know which makes their work so much more personal.

• Local authors do not have large publishing houses to do all of their promotional work.  Local authors have to work long, hard hours and hours and hours to market their books, articles and stories.  If they don't do it, there is no big corporation that will back them.

• Local authors do not receive large advancement checks to support them while they spend time writing.  Often times they find time to write into the wee hours of the morning and go to their full-time careers exhausted.

• Local authors are often overlooked by the large publishing houses who want to protect their investments with authors who are already well known to the masses, who will bring in the big money for the publishers.  Often times local authors must find their own way to publish their books, either through online publishing or creating their own publishing companies.

• Local authors often use their own savings in order to get their writing published, just like all other locally owned and operated business owners.

These are just a few ways that local authors are much like local business owners.  I am sure that there are others and if you can think of more, please feel free to comment.

So, just like we, as members of the Mohawk Valley work hard at supporting local causes and businesses, we can show emotional and financial support for our local authors.

I hope that you will return to this blog tomorrow to learn how this blog plans to be THE place where you can do just that!