Thinking Inside the Box
Sometimes it amazes me that there is an entire world one can enter through the portal of a electronic box. The only reason this doesn’t always amaze me is that I tend to take the Internet for granted, which, perhaps, is a sign of my addiction. The cyber world is infinitely fascinating and filled with exciting possibilities. A potential friend could lurk behind an anonymous blog view. A possible fan might discover one of my books because of a guest appearance on a blog. I might learn something new on a discussion thread, or I might read a comment that fires my imagination.
I’ve put my addiction to the Internet to good use. I’ve wanted to do all I can to give my books a good send-off, and since I started from zero, I had to learn how to blog, to discuss, to connect on the internet. That in itself satisfied my creative bent for a long time, but now the doubts are starting to creep in. I’m getting known as a blogger and a promoter, but am I getting known as an author?
At Sun Singer’s Travels, author Malcolm Campbell asks: Are you tired of spending more hours a week on Facebook than you are writing? Are you tired of writing more words on all your blogs than you’re writing in all your novels? And, do you ever wonder if you’re becoming less yourself by trying to think of a constant stream of posts, status updates, comments and links that match all the latest trends enough that somebody will notice and stop and look for a moment?
Such interesting questions, ones I hadn’t asked myself until recently. I used to think that I am more myself online than offline, but now I am beginning to wonder if I am losing my offline self. Are my posts and comments reflecting me, or are they creating me? Am I still a writer, or have I simply become a blogger? I know that whatever I am doing is helping establish my online presence, but will it sell books?
I do believe in the Internet. I think the future of books (or at least my books) will come from online promotion, but I’ve begun to realize that promotion is a marathon, not a sprint. It also seems silly at times, a matter of “The House that Jack Built.” Every day I write and promote an article on my blog that promotes the blog where I have another article that’s supposed to promote the book that I wrote. Whew! Sometimes I even write a second article to promote the one on my blog that promotes the one on someone else’s blog that promotes the book that I wrote.
I have ten days left of my Daughter Am I blog tour, and then it will be time to re-evaluate my online life.
All these words just to announce today’s blog tour stop: The Challenge of Research. You can also register to win a free print copy of Daughter Am I.
Description of Daughter Am I: When twenty-five-year-old Mary Stuart learns she inherited a farm from her recently murdered grandparents — grandparents her father claimed had died before she was born — she becomes obsessed with finding out who they were and why someone wanted them dead. Along the way she accumulates a crew of feisty octogenarians — former gangsters and friends of her grandfather. She meets and falls in love Tim Olson, whose grandfather shared a deadly secret with her great-grandfather. Now Mary and Tim need to stay one step ahead of the killer who is desperate to dig up that secret.
Daughter Am I is Bertram’s third novel to be published by Second Wind Publishing, LLC. Also available are More Deaths Than One and A Spark of Heavenly Fire.
About Pat
When the traditional publishers stopped publishing Pat Bertram’s favorite type of book — character and story driven novels that can’t easily be slotted into a genre — she decided to write her own. Daughter Am I is Bertram’s third novel. She is also the author...
Connections
You said you believe in the
You said you believe in the Internet. I can see how hope can lead one to this belief. But it is just an illusion. What I believe in is hard work and more hard work using the tools that are available to me. It seems we cannot escape the evolution of the publishing world, and the dire fact that 'popular culture' dictates what is being bought and talked about. Its time to realize that there is a difference between creative consumption and creative output. Strike the fine balance between the two. Read voraciously__that is what is good about the Internet. But write prolifically as well__ones creative output is what is going to produce the better writer. And there will always be room for a fine book that can stand on its own. Trying to monotinize your book on the Internet is a big waste of time if you promote it in social circles. Time on social networks is better spent interacting with people like one big cocktail party__if they like YOU they will find and talk about and buy your books. This is part of the Big Idea I am formulating here on Red Room__there is a lot of talk about it, but I have not refined it enough yet to release it. But it does answer your questions and many more.
Nice to meet you, ____ Michael
Socializing
Michael, That is how I promote -- socializing. Except for this blog tour, I seldom mention my books. It's all about making real friends and getting to know people. Which was the point of my musings -- it takes a long time to develop relationships. Those relationships are not illusion, they are real. Nor and I putting my efforts into "hope." Hope does not replace work.
Hi Pat, I would like to
Hi Pat,
I would like to update my comment with this disclaimer: I completely agree with Pat's post [as she calls her musings] but it has touched an interest of mine which I will expand upon below]. This is what I should put at the beginning of my comment. In addition, I would like to add: I believe Pat is finding out for herself creative ways in the new networked economy as a published writer and more importantly Pat is a realist when she says, " relationships are not illusion, they are real." [ implying that she has put in the hard work of building them]
Finally I congratulate you on setting a fine example for all of us Pat and for making it a little easier to understand this online world better through your experience. I know I am a fan_____Michael
We're all in this together
It's become a cliche to say "we're all in this together" but to a great extent, when it comes to the internet, we are all in this together. The internet cannot exist without links, and we are all part of that linkage. It's an odd place in that we are creating it while we are using it, which is why I say I believe in the internet. It's a place where anything can happen. We all learn from each other, and we all learn from experimentation. There is no right way to promote books, our content, or ourselves on the internet. Anyone who says they can tell you how to sell books on the internet is someone who is selling a book on how to sell books on the internet. What will work in the end is the totality of what we do and how it all links together. At least that's my most recent conclusion.
Thank you for your comments, Michael. You've given me much to think about.