How connected do we need to be?
A colleague, Scott William Carter, has come up with a scale to rate our level of interaction on the internet, through Twitter, Facebook, blogging, and so forth. I read his post with interest, because of the ongoing discussion of promotion. How much is enough? And how do we make it suit our own style?
His blog post pleases me because of this paragraph: " I do think every writer should have at least a moderately updated web page, with contact info and credits, but beyond that I think it depends a lot on mindset and goals. Personally, I think if you’re serious about being a professional writer, then you really can’t afford not to explore some of the opportunities the Internet provides. But it’s always a question of how much time you’re willing to commit and how much you enjoy it."
He goes on to compare some writers who are more or less constantly engaged (the idea of which makes this writer need a nap and a cave to hide in) with a spectacularly successful one--Neil Gaiman--who does little more than Tweet. And Scott goes on to point out that if we write great books and they succeed, increased internet presence will develop on its own.
You can find Scott's chart here: http://scottwilliamcarter.com/2009/11/16/how-online-are-you-a-writers-scale-of-internet-engagement/ And in case you want to know, I rank as a 4.
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About Louise
Louise Marley is a former concert and opera singer who now writes fulltime. She is a two-time Endeavour Award winner, has had several ALA Best Books of the Year honors, and two Nebula nominations. Her bibliography includes science fiction, fantasy, and young...
Connections
I am also a 4. And, I tried
I am also a 4. And, I tried to post this to Twitter, but couldn't succeed.
Ha.
I get that all too well.
Interesting Post
It seems that online marketing is easy, cheap and efficient. However, I doubt it will be so easy to really get attention this way for long. I still think the Twitter craze will fizzle out, but for now, I say this is a good thing for writers, especially those such as myself who on many a day would rather not leave my computer screen to talk about my work.
I'm sure you're right.
Neil Gaiman may have a million Twitter followers, but that's hardly ordinary. I don't think there are a hundred people who would want to hear my thoughts on a daily basis!