Should A Writer Grow Internet Presence - Pros And Cons

-THE ISSUES-

Should you pass all your clip possible on 'writing a darn good novel?' Or should you also pass clip to see if you can develop a followers in one of the Internet venues, such as as MySpace, youtube, podcasting or authorship an almost day-to-day blog?

Should you begin getting a followers now on the Internet of those who like what you say? Or wait possibly old age while you compose and rewrite an eventually successful novel, should that ever truly happen?

We see from the followers extracts from remarks on a writer's forum the issues highlighted in the commentator's ain words.

-FROM Type Type A WRITER'S FORUM-

A Wanna-Be-Published Writer: I have got a page on myspace which we cognize is immense and can be a very valuable networking resource. I am trying to construct a fan alkali even before I go published, that manner if publishing houses see I already have got a followers they may be more than likely to offer a contract. I post extracts and plant in advancement as blogs. Bashes anyone have got any tips or fast ones on how to bring forth more than traffic to my page especially to my blogs? And also how I might pull a few celebs to my page. Thanks in advance. -- A REPLY: MySpace is not a good topographic point to construct a fan followers of the sort publishing houses really care about.

Then again, neither is anyplace else. Publishers aren't really interested in fan following, they're interested in books that are well-written, that have got good, memorable characters, and great dialogue.

If you can make this, you don't necessitate to construct a fan followers first. If you can't make this, all the fans in the human race aren't going to help.

-THIS article WRITER'S OPINION-

I just started with myspace and don't cognize what will happen. But I have got eight calendar calendar months with Libsyn.com doing around 50 podcasts and getting after eight months 40,000 listeners. The charge per unit of addition is 1000 a hebdomad and rising. At this charge per unit I will have got anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 hearers by the end of adjacent year.

I go on my comments, trying to remain with my existent experience.

The inquiry still is: should a author who desires to be professionally published pass clip developing a fan presence for his look and positions on the Internet?

The point of position of a long-time commentator, who also works as a editor: he sees developing a strong presence on the Internet a waste material of clip for a serious novel writer.

Is it? And how can we measure the issue and make up one's mind for ourselves as writers? Iodine go on my remarks:

-WHY I need AN internet audience EVEN IF I PUBLISH BOOKS-

While I recognize that my novel or memoir have got got to be well-written, the fact that 100,000 to 200,000 existent people will have listened to me one twelvemonth from now do count for something.

I have read statistics that one out of 10 published fiction books sells and makes money? Are this because publisher-editors can't state what good, readable fiction is? I just don't know. Or are the figs off?

COMMENT: Here in the above Iodine propose that publishing houses and their editors are not so hot. This agency that they cannot show a high success charge per unit for publication printed books that sell well. Surely publishing houses should have got an 80 percentage success rate? My success charge per unit in university was more than at the ninety percentage level. To travel on my forum response to our gap issue:

I only cognize that from the Google advanced hunt that 18,200 cognize my name and work, and from the podcasts 40,000 right now.

A publishing house or editor who makes not set some value on an writer being known to the public Iodine would waver to print with.

-ONLY privation AN internet understanding editor AND PUBLISHER-

COMMENT: The truth is that I would not go with an editor or publishing house who did not highly see a strong Internet presence. The Internet is looking really good these years for establishing outreach. But I travel on:

My sum count of books sold is around 350,000 over the years. This is important since it states that what I compose sells. With St Simon and Schuster, when the Dream Card Game were in black and white it was over 70,000 in gross gross sales in the United States and over 40,000 in sales in seven other languages.

So I can compose serious books in non-fiction. Now I switch over to fiction and see what I can do.

COMMENT: As a author this is my current large issue, at which I pass a batch of time. Can I switch over from non-fiction to fiction and be successful? I am already age 72 and how many old age left make I have got to larn novel-craft at a high and successful level? Back again to my original forum entry:

What I have got gained so far in an cyberspace presence is marketplace testing, not in gross sales but in interest. 40,000 hearers in lone eight months? That shows some endowment to communicate, and relevancy to modern people hungry for information and stimulation.

Any author who contracts down to just one word form of communicating is more than likely to neglect than succeed. A author is a communicator, not a machine. If you acquire any sort of big audience you can capitalise on that if you happen the right word forms for you.

I don't cognize if I can compose good novels or memoirs yet, since it have taken me over six old age survey and authorship my one-half million pages so far. I have got set the consequences of this survey into my The Writer's Interface, which is just starting to sell to other writers. Who cognizes how it will all work out?

Maybe don't acquire stuck on the old word forms of being a writer, like authorship a novel that is supposed to travel big. Be a communicator instead and construct on that.

-BUILD Associate in Nursing audience ANY manner YOU can AND start NOW-

COMMENT: This may be a major point. Only clip will tell. For you, for me, not whether we will construct a presence on the Internet or not, but more, how shall we make it?

-IS THE internet BECOMING THE major publication beginning FOR ALL WRITERS?

Many blogs and experts are saying that the Internet is now becoming the major beginning of information that people turn to. Couple this tendency with the recent tendency that people are now willing and wanting to make their shopping on the Internet, then you make have got the Internet being the Information Storehouse of the world. How will we as authors take advantage of this new trend, and maybe do more than money on the Internet than we ever made as a whole with paper book publishers?

Writers in today's human race should recognize that publishing houses today and in earlier old age never paid authors a just share of the money publishing houses earned with a book. Getting only 10 percentage of screen terms for a book never enabled most authors to gain a life publication their writing.

Today on the Internet it may be possible for many authors to print and self-publish their work quickly on the Internet and gain more than money than they ever did or would make with a paper book publisher. Why? Because as an Internet publishing house you acquire more than of the terms of your authorship and there are less disbursals to print information on the Internet electronically.

Back to my original forum comments:

A chapter of my Jesus Of Nazareth novel is up as a blog and a podcast and have over 3000 hearers so far. I like to believe that with the complete book there will be a batch more purchasers and listeners.

COMMENT: Remember the rather righteous remark from the editor quoted above that you should sit down down and compose your novel and that getting fans on the Internet is useless? Well, it isn't, as the followers will show:

-USE THE internet TO diagnostic prove THE audience FOR YOUR WRITING-

So I utilize the Internet presence to test the waters. This gives the author blink of an eye feedback. I trust some of you can acknowledge how alone it is to compose a serious book, a novel or otherwise, and now the Internet lets a author to pass on with an audience a batch more quickly. I have got a followers again. No 1 have got commented negatively on what little I have shown of the Jesus Of Nazareth Novel. That's good. The Numbers of over 3000 hearers states 'good' also.

A writer-communicator necessitates to have got an audience.

Any manner you can acquire one is feedback on your ability to communicate. So I state to anyone who desires a presence on the Internet, usage whatever possibilities there are for your style of communicating and telling a story.

-IT'S ALL FEEDBACK-

No one can state you a presence on the Internet won't assist you. That would be arrogance. Why? Because the Internet is fast evolving and so everything is so new in this new style of communicating, and who is to state about its future?

I establish that one of my audio podcasts, Loving Laurie, have the 2nd peak hearer response rate: 2600 listeners. That's significant because of the statute title and content.

Thus Iodine do certain I also compose the Loving Laurie memoir. I am now forming the lineation for doing a complete sound book to sell online with some free chapters to listen to.

If I can win at telling this narrative effectively adequate that readers purchase the audio, then I will set it into textual matter word form as well, and present some agent or publishing house with the statistics. If they see possible in good statistics then that is probably a publishing house I desire to be with.

In the meanwhile I have got tested the marketplace quickly for my authorship by going Internet. That gives me feedback as a writer-communicator. Hope this helps.

See Rachel Vater's blog on agent evaluating writers. She is Girl Snark at raleva31.livejournal.com. She's a fantastic illustration of edifice an cyberspace followers through publication in her expert field. And she gives you what it's wish out there in the current publication world. She will compose paper books someday maybe as well. Right now she edits and agents them.

-BE Type A communicator AND NOT JUST A book WRITER-

My decision is more than that the new, modern author going into the hereafter have got to have communicating success both on the Internet in one of its forms, and in the old paper human race of the past, which is paper book publishing.

You desire to be a professional communicator? Construct your audiences wherever and whenever you can happen them.

ACTION TO TAKE: Stay positive. Listen positively to negative people and positions if they look expert enough. What they state might stifle your enthusiasm, but it might also land you in reality.

Yet to be positive is to believe something new and of greater value can go on for you if you prosecute it. Look at how you can carry through much more than than expression at what can make you fail.

Also, diagnostic test your programs where it is easy and grounded to do so.

Internet publication is largely free information these years as what is most popular. Yet, people won't take free information if it is icky information, poorly presented. Get some sort of Numbers feedback to corroborate where you are with your communicating and writing.

-READERS ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN AGENTS, EDITORS, experts AND PUBLISHERS-

A so-called adept or professional advice is only one person's position of things. Don't set your trust in editors, agents, experts and publishers. Don't pay for professional readers and editors.

Create an audience of readers of your work. Only the reader, or listener, is the world diagnostic test of your work. Editors don't purchase your books. They anticipate you to give them to them. Readers who must pay are paying hard-earned money usually to have your work. The best ballot is the dollar!