With all the social networks that have arisen–particularly those for writers and readers–I wonder how much membership and spending time and developing connections at these sites actually benefits the writer versus blogging.
And if so what is the most productive balance of time an author can spend seeking out and making friends at a social space such as Facebook, Myspace, goodreads and/or shelfari vs. blogging at her/his website.
I’m finding that I’m spending more and more time at my website writing and crafting blogs on subjects that reveal who I am as a writer and a person.
The first reason has to do with practicality. I just don’t have the time required for responding to e-mails on questions connections and potential friends at the various sites often pose–the answers of which they can read on my website if they care to click over to.
I will say that I do answer each person who asks to be my friend with a nice e-mail that says, “Thanks for being my friend,” and then I ask them what they have just read–if they are from a literary social space.
If they are from facebook of Myspace I then go to say as I do with connections from the literary networks, “Please visit my website when you get a chance.” I invite them to leave comments if they find helpful an article or musing on a topic about which I’ve written.
By the time I do that I have to move on.
But even with that I am finding that I’m no longer asking people to be my friends on these social spaces unless I see where they might show a particular interest in what I’m writing on my blog and can or will benefit from reading my blogs.
Why do I do this?
As I said, I have to use my time wisely. As an author I first and foremost need to write–my stories and novels.
Secondly, and just as importantly, I don’t want to become a nuisance. People are getting inundated with horrible amounts of spam, or what we might term digital trash mail.
It’s becoming harder and more difficult for individuals to separate out what they like and would benefit from reading as distinct from that which they have no interest in.
Yet and still I don’t have the desire to run the race of trying to connect with everyone when what I have to offer isn’t what everyone needs nor desires.
Many of us, myself included, remain stuck in the mode of interruption advertising that so dominated the consumer culture until recently. With the advent of the internet we much become specialists at not only developing and defining our niche, but also subtly identifying those who desire and would benefit from the niche products we offer–which for fiction writers is the genre of novel or short stories we write and the target audience seeking what we deliver.
There’s an art to this I am learning.
First and foremost is to identify and refine who you are in the writing world and what you write about. My blog is a direct reflection of that.
I am finding that the more I write/blog, the clearer I grow on not simply who I am as a writer, my loves and passions, but also why I write the stories I do. Hopefully those who visit my site will see this too and if I’m lucky they’ll purchase a copy and after reading it will encourage another person to do the same.
Where are you spending your time on the internet as a writer–or as a reader?
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