In my experience butting heads against what I’ll call “entry level” print published authors, my experience is quite the opposite… many of them are more concerned with what other writers and people in the industry think and are utterly disconnected from their audience.

Online authors, on the other hand, have a direct and immediate link to their readers. The readership is involved, invested.

I think the idea that people under 24 don’t read comes from a tendency to discount online reading. People read blogs online. They read news online. They read fan fiction online. Obviously there is no inherent bias or barrier that would prevent them from reading original literary works online.

I write online and my writing reaches thousands of people in a day. I reap a modest living on the fruits of my writing in an age when all I hear about is how hard it is to make a living as an author and the publishing industry is bringing diminishing returns. I get the cachet, the prestige of having your name “in print” and thinking “Somebody thought enough of my story to do this.”… but I don’t see the advantages of print as being an equal trade.

As a struggling writer, I find online publishing easier to gain more readers. Dabbling on sites like storymash has been a new treat for me, and if you haven’t heard of it, you should check it out.

However, as an avid reader, I just can’t see online replacing the comfortable pages of a print novel.