Be charming. Be everywhere

[naomi_jay]

So I think I've mentioned before that 2011 is going to be my year of living dangerously. I mean, I'm not going to swim with sharks or anything, but I am going to try more things in an effort to make more of a career writing-wise. I set up a "Naomi Clark, author" Facebook page a while back, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything for me so I'm going to quietly drop it. I have a lot more friends on my regular Facebook page, and I haven't gotten over my squeamishness at requesting people go and "like" the author page. I feel like I don't have the right to tell you what you should like and it's too much like spamming for me. And it's not Twitter. I love Twitter. I don't love Facebook.

I have wondered about setting up a Blogger site again, or Wordpress, and mirroring the writerly content here, there. I love Livejournal because I love you guys, I love the Friends page, and I love the comment system a lot more than Blogger's. But I also love that I can flock entries here and rant and rave in an unprofessional manner if I want to. And I'd like to keep that separate from my writerly stuff. On the other hand, I feel ... established on Livejournal, and having exactly the same content somewhere else that nobody might bother visiting seems a waste of time. But I don't know, I could be wrong. Opinions welcome!

I even considered setting up a Myspace page, then immediately dismissed the idea because ... Myspace? Really?

I don't know if there any other social media platforms I'm overlooking? I feel really uncomfortable being all up in people's faces. I've joined Kindleboards, but that place is like ... intimidating, and I can't figure out what I am and aren't allowed to post there. I can't do the whole cold sell thing where I'm just all "HEY BUY MY STUFF!" at people. I like to feel like I'm not just shilling, you know? I feel like everyone here who comments and whose blogs I comment on are my friends, not potential customers. I like interacting with you all, and if you buy my books because you like it too, that's great! But that's not going to make me into a full-time writer, so I need to get over the icky squeamishness. So that's one of the reasons I'm considering the Blogger option - a site completely dedicated to Writer Nome. Although I'd probably still end up talking about giant squid and Matt Berry and stuff, so again, seems like a waste of time.

I don't know! Help me, Livejournal. I think I need a Pot Noodle for this.

Comments

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

If someone tries to friend me on facebook, I nearly always accept. If someone follows me on Twitter (and they look like a real person), I follow them back, but I only spend about a half hour a week on either of those, and I only promote my Friday links list and the occasional other blog posts there.

I don't know if it's the best thing to do, but when I first started on facebook and Twitter, I made a conscious decision to have a presence there, but focus mainly on my blog here on Live Journal (which gets mirrored on goodread and jacketflap.com).

Otherwise it's too much time spent not writing.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

Otherwise it's too much time spent not writing.

That's a valid point, but I've found Twitter works best if you engage with people, rather than just advertising things there. Facebook... meh. I struggle with FB because there's no clear division between "official writer Nome" and "just Nome," and I don't think it's the best platform for promoting writing works.