by Sunny Frazier
This article was previously posted on Sunny’s blog.
To cyber-socialize or not to cyber-socialize? That is the question.
My New Year’s resolution for ’09 was to finally seriously and extensively take a look at all the social sites I kept hearing about: My Space, Facebook, Crime Space, Twitter, and Blogs. No more letting the info slide by, no more shaking my head and saying, “Who’s got time for all this bulls…t?” I would do an investigation, just like my sleuth, Christy Bristol. I would finally find out what all the fuss was about.
First, I had to learn to put on the brakes. I was painstaking setting up my profile, tentatively adding friends, photos and an opinion or two. People responded. “Will you be my friend?” Uh, yeah, guess so. Messages began to flood my mailbox.
Sunny Frazier
I found myself overloaded with all these strangers clamoring for attention. I decided to create a folder to stuff the socializers into until I could find time; Sunday mornings were free because business emails slowed on weekends.
As I took time to look at blog sites, I noticed links listed. My former training as a “narc” secretary kicked in. Where I once sifted through allegations to detect clues on drug trafficking, I now investigated these links for info. I sped the process by copying the entire group and creating a new folder titled Blog Sites. I could already see where this was going to become unwieldy, so as I checked each one out, I discarded what I couldn’t use and put the “possibles” in alphabetical order.
Yes, I’m a bottom feeder. Let others do the work, I’ll reap the rewards. I discovered an incredible number of sites and slammed profile on in record time. I tossed in photos, never the same as the other sites. I recycled good blogs, figuring I’d find a different readership at each site. I insisted my friends from my publishing house (Oak Tree Press) join me. I was a brat.
The work immediately paid off. People invited me to guest blog. Would I consent to be interviewed? Would I like my newest book, Where Angels Fear, be reviewed? My “googled” hits tripled in two weeks. But, with success comes controversy. Those I left behind in the dust, the naysayers, carped that I wasn’t doing any “real” writing. Or, why should they follow my lead without a book to market? On a panel in Hawaii, two major authors cautioned, “You should all be writing books, not wasting time on these sites.” Even the moderator let out a gasp (and befriended me as soon as we returned to the mainland).
Waiting means playing catch-up. Smart writers create a presence that will be ready when their first book is published. The rest, late to the game, will run to keep pace. Being aggressive pays off when it comes to selling books.
The way I see it, writers are now divided into two categories: Those who “socialize” with the possibility that their efforts will pay off in the end and those who are “unsocial” and assume hard work will eventually be rewarded in sales.
My opinion? Do nothing and nothing is all you get.
Good blog! You’re right . . . do nothing, and nothing is all you get. I fought this for a while, then saw the light. No one will knock on your door if they don’t know you’re there.