On Thursday, April 24, Visiting Writer Molly Barton ’00 gave a talk titled “Write Better Together: An Inside Look at a New Generation of Social Networks and Websites that Empower Writers.” Barton is the former Global Digital Director at Penguin Random House and has spent this spring teaching the Writing Certificate’s Senior Seminar.

Barton spoke about Book Country, an online start-up she founded within Penguin, through which aspiring writers can give and receive feedback on manuscripts in progress. She also spoke on a larger scale about the increasing role social media plays in the artists’ work.

In her talk, Barton stated her belief that artists must use social media to target their work to a specific network in order for it to gain success.

“In my view, artists are just beginning to learn how to use the Internet as a way to develop collaborative relationships because they want to be in [an] intimate setting,” Barton said. “They’re focused on more than just friending people or broadcasting to deaf ears, so if you’re a writer looking for your big break, my theory is it’s better to speak with another writer than to start talking with your aunt…. A high value network requires specific people, not just lots of people.”

Barton noted that her studies at the University were formative in her career and Book Country’s foundation.

“The experience of taking writing courses [at the University] led me to want to work in book publishing,” Barton said. “My experiences as a Ford Fellow in particular directly led to applying the idea of peer review to trade publishing.”

In addition to her role as a Ford Fellow, Barton’s work at Oxford University Press in New York inspired the peer-editing concept utilized by Book Country. Prior to publishing any academic work, she had to send her work to at least two scholars in the field for blind peer review.

She also spoke about the conservatism of publishers in the early 2000s at Penguin. When Barton first tried to publish a manuscript at Penguin, she was required to send it to 27 editors before an offer was made. She was highly conscious of this experience when she founded Book Country.

After receiving feedback and revising, usually with an average of six drafts uploaded to the site, authors can either self-publish on Book Country or send the manuscript to other publishers.

“My theory was that if you get writers to collaborate with each other when they’re still in the revising process, they’ll become sort of colleagues, so when they go on to publish, if it’s on the site, great, but if not they still have that sort of network of support and you can see it working,” Barton said.

Barton said that she is excited by the success that writers who use Book Country see when they decide to publish their work.

“You can see the community element working in the sense that the writers who have work-shopped their books on Book Country and then sold their e-books through Book Country are selling more copies than writers who self-publish on other services,” Barton said. “And you can see on social networks, on Facebook and Twitter, the other Book Country members helping to promote their work.”

Students who attended the lecture found it engaging and helpful.

“Ms. Barton was fascinating and cogent, and the audience responded really well and asked some great questions,” said  Jeffrey Bigman ’17.

With many ambitious writers in the audience, Barton offered timely guidance.

“As someone with a life goal of self-publishing a novella about those who have passed, I thought Ms. Barton offered some great advice about how to make it in the industry,” said Nora Canby ’17.

Barton closed her talk with optimism for the role that social media will play in the future for artists.

“This new generation of social networks, as I call them, empowers artists in a way that’s really groundbreaking,” Barton said. “I think it’s a fantastic time because it means that people are able to find the work that’s most meaningful to them, and it also means that it’s affordable to produce because it’s easier to get to your niche.”