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A short story by a relatively unknownauthor gets top billing with a major urban news outlet. Sounds like fantasy,right?

Last week, KGWPortland, opened 6 pm news with an author reading from his recentlypublished speculative fiction, an unconventional short story set in the momentsfollowing a big Cascadia earthquake.

Disasters���even fictional ones���tend topique interest, and people in Portland are understandably interested in aseismic event that could potentially destroy their city, but there���s morebehind how this particular story got noticed. Author Adam Rothstein opted topublish ���Five Minutes��� on Motherboard, an online magazine and video channel. Thefirst of a five-part series, the story opens on a page featuring an image thatundulates the way the land does during a major quake, an effect you can���t achievein traditional print or even in e-book format.

For the IBPA Independent ,I���m working on an article called ���Updates from the Digital Frontier.��� As Iinterview publishing experts, it���s clear that much conventional thinking aboutwhen and how to publish needs to be refreshed.

When the meteoric rise in e-book salesslowed, sighs of relief sounded from many corners of the industry. Revolutionover, frontier closed. We could all go back to business as usual.

According to digital publishing experts, nothingcould be further from the truth. When pondering how to publish, these expertssay, we should be thinking beyond the traditional book, either print ordigital. We should be thinking beyond containers. We should be thinking insteadabout purpose and audience, and then about seeking the best means of reaching these,regardless of how unconventional. Rothstein, it seems, did exactly that.

What Marshall McLuhanasserted decades ago���that the medium is the message���applies now more thanever. But even as options expand, certain aspects of when to publish���and how���remainevergreen. The ability to view your work with a certain degree of objectivityis one indicator that you���re ready to think about publishing. Another is thatyou have a good understanding of your audience and purpose, allowing you toassess which formats and approaches to publishing will be most appropriate foryour project.

Long ago, we used to say that when you couldenvision your book on a shelf, you might be ready to pursue publication. Thesedays, that visioning might not involve a shelf at all. Instead, the best way toreach your audience and achieve your purpose might be via an app or an enhancedwebsite. It might even be a short story that turns up on the evening news.

Forauthors who want to know more about their publishing options and how they canknow when their projects are ready, Deb has written WhatEvery Author Should Know and WriteYour Best Book. She hasn���t yet figured out how to get these projects topbilling on the 6 o���clock news, but she���s working on it.