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      April Newsletter    
           
 

Taming Technology ~

   The internet is one of the most fascinating and powerful communication tools of the twenty-first century.  It's no surprise how many people use it for daily correspondence, work, research, shopping, and connecting with the world.  Writers are no different, using the internet to reach out to other writers, agents, editors, and their main audience, readers. 

Many writers start building their internet presence well before selling their first book, creating and building name recognition to help drive future sales.  Yet the path to publication can be unpredictable with most writers taking a number of years to selling that first manuscript.  So, how do you safeguard your future image today?

First, be aware of how many tool options are out there for building your internet presence and how far reaching they are.  Choices range from as simple as sending an email or as complex as having multiple websites, loaded with interactive features.  And everything in between.  Some writers participate in email groups, such as Yahoo Groups, sharing information and research with other writers.  Others choose to blog, chronicling the journey from first word to publication or other aspects of life's adventures.  Many have at least one website, focusing on who they are and what they write.  The number of writers participating in online networking communities, like MySpace and Facebook, is growing everyday.

Next, remember that while the information on the internet changes everyday, once something is "out there," you've lost some of your control over it.  Yes, you may have sent the email to a personal friend, but we've all heard stories of emails that have been forwarded on to the "wrong" person and triggered less than favourable results.  True enough that you deleted that old website from your ISP hosting service and upgraded it with a new one, but there's no guarantee that a copy of the old version doesn't exist on someone else's server, either because their updates haven't cycled around to them, or they downloaded a copy because it caught their attention.  What about that blog you created to share your experiences as a writer?  Since we all know that writers go through a lot of rejection, and rejection letters, before finding the right person to buy their work, no one should be surprised when you vent some of your frustrations, right?  Too bad another editor you submitted to--one that really liked your work--saw your "venting" and thought you might be a bit too temperamental for her work style and decided to pass on your work.  MySpace and Facebook pages?  It's like in any other "community," when the environment feels relaxed, it can be way too easy to forget that you might be with "friends" but its still all about business.

Walking the line between formal and fun, structured and flexible on the internet can be difficult.  Part of sharing your work, and building your internet presence is, after all, marketing your work and yourself as an author.  Books are part of the entertainment business, competing with movies and tv and sports and so much more, being formal and structured and stuffy just isn't going to entertain anyone. 

One of the things that helps me decide what to keep and what to delete without ever posting is asking myself, how would my "fan club" react.  Now I don't mean all the people out there that will one day read my work (although I do hope that some day there are lots of them!).  I mean a special group of people that really get excited by what I do and really want to see me succeed.  My "personal" fan club.

My personal fan club consists of eight people:
~ my mother
~ my eldest child
~ my husband
~ my husband's boss
~ my future agent
~ my future editor
~ my best friend
~ my worst enemy

This is my list, but your list might include very different people.  For the most part, people on this list want me to do well, give me the benefit of the doubt, and support my efforts.  Then why is my worst enemy on the list?  I never want to knowingly give anyone ammunition to hurt me or the people I care about, so I do give thought to what would someone who didn't really want to see me succeed think.  And what about the two "future" positions?  Currently, I don't have an agent or editor, but one day I will, so I try to make sure that whatever I send out now, won't embarrass either of them in the future.  Make sense?

So, start building your own "personal fan club" and let them help you with keeping your future bright and problem free.

 

   
      Carpe diem,
                                     Kellie		    
     

   
           
     
 


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Last website updates ~~~ April 2008

  
   
 

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