The death of the book is a subject that comes up over, and over again. I find it kind of unsettling that so many writers would rather cling to the old and rather than embrace the new. Let’s clear this up right away: I love the print medium. I fell in love with writing and reading at a very young age, and according to my mother, I was reading books before I knew the alphabet. I don’t know how or why that happened, but that’s a story that my family tells repetitively.

There are far too many writers that I know of,  that are dismissing the idea of web-based publications altogether. I don’t think it’s a generational thing either. I just started reading a book that’s one big debate between the late Umberto Eco and a French journalist, on the digitalization of everything from books to the news. Umberto was in his 80s when the book was published, and based on everything that I’ve read thus far, he’s really enthusiastic about the digital world’s effect on storytelling.

I think that all modern writers need to also understand how to write a blog post, learn basic HTML and SEO, and know how to use social media as a productive marketing tool. Even if all you’re writing is a novel or a play you won’t get an audience, and paying customers unless you get the word out there. The web is an important part of that.

Writing in this particular day and age is actually really exciting. Suddenly a lot more people need writers, a lot more people can find out more about writers quickly and easily, and getting your story heard is a lot easier. Not to mention: more businesses than ever before, from big budget corporations that your oldest relative probably knows about, to mom and pop shops, are feeling the pressure to include quality content in their marketing efforts. This means that there are opportunities for writers to make money writing, and pay the bills while they write poetry, fiction, or whatever else they feel like, than ever before.

If you can write coherently, know how to use social media in an engaging fashion, and understand core HTML basics, such as what people are asking for when they want a title in Strong or H3 text, you’ll make an excellent web writer. Even if your niche is print-based, a client might ask you to proofread a web page or copy write a blog post at some point in time.