So there I was doodling away in a media training session when the instructor informed each of us that we should google our names frequently to see what was being said about us on the internet.

Really?

Of course everybody at the session had already done this. Repeatedly. But now we weren’t only being given permission, we were being told we MUST do it in order to look for reviews and information about the reviewers, misinformation we might be able to clear up, pirated copies of our novels to report to our publishers. And did I know there was something called Klout.com that measured our Google mentions as well as our followers on Twitter, the number of people who’ve friended or liked us on Facebook, the readers of our blogs. Google ourselves and get an idea just how popular we are.

Really? Just like junior high school, only electronically? (more…)

Today I received an interesting newsletter from The Content Strategist, published by Contently. The topic was blog comments. You remember comments? That little link on the top right of each of my posts where you get to express your opinion about what I’ve said?

The Content Strategist explained that some websites have removed their comment link. The reasons are varied, of course, but top among them are the maniacs who frequently express their hostility on any subject, with no regard for the feelings of others. There’s also research that indicates less than one percent of readers actually even look at what other people have said.

Who knew?

I like the comment option at Southern Exposure. I like what you say and have only rarely had to ignore (not publish) a comment because it verges on spam.  But not everybody is that lucky. Just look at the comments on any site with a faintly political twist, especially now, when election rhetoric is so heated I expect flames to leap out of my television screen whenever I turn it on. Or how about religion? Or global warming?  The comments can be a head-on glimpse at a world where people ditch civility and humiliate strangers because nobody knows who they really are.

I’ve noticed another problem, particularly on recipe blogs. A warm, chatty post is followed by 95 comments, 16 of which ask specific questions.”Could I substitute low-fat coconut milk for regular?” “Would this work with quinoa instead of rice?” And the questions hang there forever, because the blogger never visits the post again. Warm and chatty turns into cold and uncaring. Never a blogger’s intention.

A blogger can’t judge the success of her blogs by the number of comments. She may be preaching to the choir and leaving nothing to disagree with. She may not be controversial enough to need correcting. Personally I comment rarely on the blogs I visit. I read the blogger because I want his/her opinion and not because I want to give my own.

How about you?  Do you appreciate the chance to add your thoughts, or could you care less?  Are you worried your comment might be misconstrued or passed over, so you’re afraid to add it?

Do you read comments that follow a blog, or would that bore you?

I plan to leave my comment option just as it is. You are unfailingly polite, and I read every single word you write.

But if you ever turn into raving maniacs?  Well, there’s always this.  No-holds barred controversy on this page would probably triple my readership.

Now, isn’t that a scary thought?

Nothing beats the internet when you’re recuperating.  I discovered this during the past week when I was largely immobile after surgery on my knee.  The iPad I’d  wondered if I’d ever really need proved to be a godsend.  I did mail, surfed and played Word with my family and my former assistant friend now living across the pond.  Since our time zones are hours apart, I could always count on her to have a word waiting for me when I woke up. That brightened my morning.

I also discovered the real joys of illustration.  There were moments I didn’t want to read.  I just wanted to look at beautiful things, and Pinterest fit the bill perfectly. I had time to scroll through the gorgeous choices of people I “follow,” and wallow in the beauty of rooms, quilts, seaside abodes, desserts, and Asheville, North Carolina, scene of my next book.  It was a welcome diversion.  It was healing. (more…)

The Fear Factor

Another new toy on the Internet?  Yikes.

The first time I visited Pinterest.com, I knew better than to stay.  Pinterest is the definition of a detour on the highway of life.  All those gorgeous images?  I knew I could lose my way for hours.  It was time to pack up and go home.

The second time, motivated by social media gurus, I realized I had to join in.  Besides, what a great way to share the inspiration behind my upcoming series of novels, Goddesses Anonymous, which debuts in August.  As I found interesting facts and photos, I could add them with one click.  Keeping everything in one place is a challenge, and Pinterest would help.

The Whys and Wherefores

I began a journey into the how-tos.  First I learned Pinterest likes users to invite other users, so after a mention on my Facebook page, I was granted three immediate invitations.  I was in. 

Now what to do?  Pinterest gives choices of people to follow, but I quickly deleted most when I realized our interests were different.  I created some boards the site suggested as starters and added a few of my own.  Hmmm. . .  I downloaded the ”Pin It” button to my IE Favorites Bar and suddenly  it was intoxicatingly easy to add anything I wanted to keep or show off.  

Addiction in Progress

As I began to understand, I looked for boards with interests like mine.  I found some about Asheville, the setting for my series. I created my own Asheville board and added a photo or two.  I went to the website of a restaurant mentioned in One Mountain Away, the series debut novel, and pinned a photo to the board.  Wow, I was having fun.

Although cottages have nothing to do with my writing, I am about to renovate an old Victorian era lake cottage in Western NY, so I checked out cottage boards and found charming ideas.  Plus I was able to pin some Better Homes and Gardens photos I’d fallen in love with so I could view them often.  I was beginning to really understand.  Suddenly the world opened up to me.  Quilts, knitting, home decor, and recipes! Somebody stop me.

I’m still a new Pinterest user, which you will discover if you go to my fledgling boards.  But I can testify to the addiction factor.  When I visited this morning to take a screen shot for this blog, I was so distracted that an hour later, when I finally wrenched myself away, I found I’d forgotten the screen shot. 

It’s Popular Why?

Social media began with blogging, moved to Facebook with shorter messages, then to Twitter with its short-short messages, and now to images.  We’re all busy.  We all have access to so much wonderful Internet content, we can’t spend too much time anywhere.  Enter Pinterest, with its instant visual punch.

New and Better Fears

I still worry about copyright.  I can’t quite figure out why it’s okay to pin photos I find on the Internet on my Pinterest board, and not okay to use them to illustrate my blogs.  If photos are properly attributed, Pinterest should be a publicity boost to any website, and the site links to sources, so we can trace photos back to the copyright holder.  But still, the subtle difference eludes me.

Pack Your Bags

Come visit me and see Pinterest for yourself.  If you need an invitation, visit my website and ask for one.  I’m happy to oblige.  But pack whatever you’ll need for a good long stay.  And don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Right now I’m listening to my favorite radio station.  Our local public radio station has wonderful classical music, and very little talk.  What talk they do have is insightful and interesting.  Having said all that, do I help support their programming by becoming a member?

Unfortunately, no.  Instead I support a neighboring public radio station to which I listen far less frequently.  The reason is simple.  No matter what I do or say, no matter whom I speak to or email, my local station continues to ask me for money. 

Once, years ago, I was a member and proud to do my share.  Then I realized that each year, the station was spending most of my contribution asking me for even more.  Sadly, I discontinued that relationship.  Although after numerous communications and much feedback they promised to cease and desist, like a spurned lover, they keep coming back.  This week alone we received not one but three pleas to send in our annual contribution, mailed to three different variations of our names at this address.  I’ve researched giving anonymously, but so far, have not found a solution.  And still the letters come. And come.  And still, my public radio contribution goes elsewhere.

I suspect you’ve been in the same situation.  Our mailboxes, both computer and snail mail, are filled with advertisements and solicitations.  I’ve discovered how to get off catalog mailing lists by using this address.  And I’ve discovered how to evaluate charities by their spending habits and their missions, so I can make wise choices on how I spend my money. I know how to unsubscribe and I know how to block spammers. 
But now, I’m on the opposite side of the computer screen.  I am the one selling myself and my novels.

How does an author find readers who might want to read her novels without annoying them, the way my local radio station annoys me?  As it is, I do a fair amount of promotion.  I write this blog and keep an active Facebook page.  I send out a snail mail newsletter (email if you’d like to receive it) designed by my talented daughter-in-law, and several email newsletters each year.  Most addresses come from booksignings, another promotional tool, or signups on my webpage. I do events like the upcoming Virginia Festival of the Book and the Buckeye Bookfair I attended last fall.  I offer contests, some planned, some impromptu held here or at Facebook.  In fact I’m busily collecting prizes for the one to promote Fortunate Harbor in July, and busily sending out prizes readers have already won. 

I also take part in other online promotions.  Fresh Fiction and Author Buzz offer lots of opportunities and ideas, including blog tours, book groups, and online newsletters.  Of course, my publisher does the heavy lifting, taking out ads in magazines and newspapers, organizing book events.  This year they’ve asked me to be part of an Author Bus Tour in June, but more about that later.  We all work hard to get the books into the hands of people who want them, as well as people who don’t yet know they do, but will.

Several years ago I was advised by professionals to, at the least, send out a monthly newsletter.  This was advice I ignored, preferring not to enrage my readers.  Yet I receive newsletters myself on a weekly basis, sometimes even more frequently, that I do read and enjoy.

So where is the threshold?  At what point does promotion become onerous for me?  Not yet.  I love blogging.  I really enjoy my Facebook page.  Booksignings when well promoted and organized are fun, and contests are a chance to be creative.  

But what about you?  How much promotion is too much promotion?  One newsletter in your inbox every week?  Every month?  Every year? Want to just take your chances at the bookstore without advance notice?  Or maybe you appreciate a little information?  Or a lot?  

In the end, the very best use of any novelist’s energy is to write a good book.  The second best use is to find a good publisher who will make sure it’s placed prominently in bookstores and gift it with an eye-catching cover. 

For myself, I’m doing the promotion I like to do, and promotion you seem to like, as well.  One thing I can guarantee, unlike my public radio station, if you ask for fewer mailings or none at all, I will listen, and I will do whatever I can to make sure your wishes are honored.

I absolutely promise to be insightful at a later moment.  I’ll be witty and profound, as well–as soon as I remember how.  But in the meantime, a few announcements.  Please, bear with me. 

First, on the beauties of having a Facebook page. The moment I thought I’d figured out how to use this wonderful tool, Facebook decided to throw the proverbial wrench.  They completely changed the look of their pages and how to manage them, and the moment we figure this out, they will change them again.  It’s inevitable. 

(more…)

Just a quickie, before we resume the Guatemalan travelogue.  After serious urging by my publisher and the worry that I might be the only person left in the universe who is NOT on Facebook or other networking sites, the great and powerful wizard (Marna, my brave and true assistant) put up a page for me this week.  Now you can find me on Facebook right here.  Come join the fun and become my “fan.”  (Their wording, not mine, although it has a certain ring to it.) 

We have a place there for discussions and polls, and who knows what else?  Let’s have fun together.

And while you’re surfing the web?  You can also find me at Goodreads.  And Shelfari.  And Red Room.  My blog is also available on my individual book pages at Amazon.  Good grief.

Will there be more?  Will I learn to Twitter?  Don’t count on it.  I’m still not sure what to do with the pages I have.  But I’m learning.  Come learn with me.

See you there!